Shadow the Hedgehog: Finding the Truth
by HeroMystic
Summary: Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform, is still searching for his past. Confused and Bewildered, Black Doom enters onto the Earth to get him to join. But Sonic has something else to say about that... what will Shadow do? Remake of the Shadow the Hedgehog Storylin
1. Dark Times

Prologue

Dark Times

Sonic is enjoying a peaceful day in Station Square, sitting on a chair outside. He has sunglasses on, and was drinking a cup of soda from a straw. He smiled, looking at the sun. It felt so good to have a break from adventuring. Suddenly, Amy pops in front of him, and Sonic jumped from shocked, almost dropping his cup.

"Hi Sonic…" Amy said, smiling.

Sonic lowered his sunglasses so he can see Amy properly, "What is it?"

Amy cuddled onto Sonic, "Oh, nothing."

Sonic tried to squirm out of her grasp, but she was holding pretty tightly. Sonic thought of something quickly, and something triggered in his mind.

"Hey look! Someone is selling perfume!" Sonic shouted, pointing.

Amy looked behind her and looked around, but when she turned around, Sonic was out of sight, only seeing a trail of dust.

Amy growled, "Sonic! I'll get you yet!"

Sonic ran across the city, doing various acrobatics on walls, swinging across a pole to grab more air. He lands on the side of the wall and jumps on another wall, then jumps up, landing on a building.

"Sonic!" a voice shouted.

Sonic turned around to see his buddy, Tails.

"Hey, Tails," Sonic said.

Tails flew down and landed on the building. He smiled at Sonic.

"I just came out with a new invention!" Tails exclaimed.

"Another one? What is it?" Sonic asked.

"I call it, Tornado X!"

"Another plane?"

"Not just a plane, but it's a jet. It can fly to space."

"Sweet, looks like we won't have to steal Eggman's jets anymore."

Tails chuckled, "Right, that's why I made it."

"Cool, although it won't be as fun."

Tails glared at Sonic.

"Hey! I was only kidding around."

"I know," Tails said, smiling.

"Sonic!!!" a voice shouted.

Sonic looked down, and saw Amy running after him, "Wow, that girl doesn't give up! Gotta go buddy!"

Sonic jumps to another building, and lands on the ground and resumes run. Amy continues to chase Sonic.

"But… I've been loyal to you guys."

"I'm sorry, but it's just out of my hands."

"What? Why are you doing this? No matter what, I've completed my missions."

"That's exactly right, Rouge, you do it no matter what, but you've also put some of your missions in jeopardy."

Rouge looked irritated, "Mr. President, I can't help that I have a thing for jewels."

"That's what everyone is so worried about," the President said, "About two years ago, you allowed Eggman to have five Chaos Emeralds and put Station Square on the brink of destruction. Also, a year later, you've worked with Shadow, a hedgehog that also worked with Eggman."

"But Shadow isn't with Eggman anymore!"

"I know, and he has gained my trust, but back then, he was still a mystery. And that still doesn't excuse you from the Eclipse Cannon incident."

"So I can't be trusted anymore?"

"I still trust you, but the soldiers feel unsafe around you. Your lack of self-control and lust for jewels has really shaken up GUN."

Rouge's eyes drifted off, feeling a little ticked.

"You will be on probation until further notice. Don't expect to be called until GUN calms down."

"Yes, sir," Rouge said.

"Keep in mind I had to fight my way just to keep you in, so take my advice and take a break from being a government spy."

Rouge nodded, "Understood."

The President stood up and looked out the window, "You're free to go."

Rouge walked out, cursing under her breath. She let her lust almost jeopardize her job. She wouldn't be so worried about it if this weren't the only way to get jewels without openly stealing them. Rouge walks out the building, spreading her wings, and flew away.

Knuckles rested by the Master Emerald, keeping a close eye on it. His calm life has been very enjoyable. He always felt guilty for leaving the Master Emerald behind to help Tails and Sonic. He felt that his place was to always be by the Master Emerald, never leaving its side.

Knuckles smiled, looking at the sky. He felt at peace, feeling the Master Emerald behind him. Suddenly, he saw a figure flying towards him.

"Not her again…" Knuckles said, automatically assuming it's Rouge.

His thoughts were right, Rouge landed on the ground and looked at Knuckles.

"I can never be at peace, can I?" Knuckles asked, standing up.

Rouge walked up the steps, going up to the shrine, "Just get out of my way."

"Can't do that," Knuckles said, getting in front of her.

"What's up with you and that emerald!? I can't even lay a finger on it!"

"Because it's not just an emerald! I have to protect it. I can't even trust Sonic to hold it."

Rouge looks at Knuckles angrily, "I just want to touch it, knucklehead!"

Knuckles glared at her, "And how can I trust a thief?"

"Maybe you can, maybe you can't. Just remember, I'll use force if necessary."

"I'm not really in the mood for a fight, Rouge."

"Then get out of my way!"

Rouge tried to force her way to the emerald, but Knuckles holds her back.

"Can't you just steal stuff from the jewelry store!?" Knuckles shouted.

"That emerald is unique! I just want to touch it!"

"What's wrong with… whoa."

Knuckles looked up at the sky, still holding onto Rouge. A large, bulky figure fell from the sky and landed onto the ground, making a tremor. It had a club in its hand, and stared at Knuckles and Rouge.

Rouge turned around, "What is that thing?"

"I don't know, but…" Knuckles looked up as the sky turned red, "this could be bad."

Rouge rushed to the giant, "You picked a bad time to drop in!"

She kicked the giant's side, but it didn't flinch. Rouge did another kick and had no effect again. The giant swung its club, hitting Rouge. She skids across the ground due to the force of the impact. Knuckles jumped up and punches the giant's face. It stumbled back, and Knuckles landed on his feet, and just kept punching repeatedly. The giant punched Knuckles, and he flown to the stairs, crashing into it. The giant ran up to Knuckles, raising its club to make a strike, but Rouge fired off her Black Wave, and it hit the giant hard. Knuckles stood back up as the giant skid down the field. He pulled his arms back as he began to glow red.

"Heat Knuckles Attack!" Knuckles shouted.

He literally threw himself to the giant, going at high speed. His fists forward, he crashes into the giant, and it goes flying. Rouge flies up, pulls her foot back, and does a fierce kick to the head. It flies farther and falls off of Angel Island, screaming as it fell. Rouge breathed hard, and fells to the ground. Before she landed, Knuckles caught her.

"You okay?" Knuckles asked.

Rouge stared at him and Knuckles looked back, then she kicked him to the face and jumped back.

"I'm fine!" Rouge shouted.

"Well I can see that now!" Knuckles shouted back.

Rouge and Knuckles look angrily at each other, but Rouge snaps out of it.

"Look, we have worse problems right now," Rouge said, walking past him, "We need to get Sonic, I have a feeling something terrible is going to happen."

"I have to stay here," Knuckles said.

"For your crappy emerald?"

"It's not crappy!"

"I was kidding, sheesh… you know you're going to be useless staying here, right?"

"I've already left the Master Emerald too many times."

"Why not this time? You know this could possibly threaten the world, and you know, if the world is gone… then what's the point of protecting the Master Emerald?"

Knuckles smirked, "You just want me to go with you."

"Oh yes, I need a strong and bold man to protect me… NOT!" Rouge said, "I just know you and Sonic are buddies, and you saved the world with him more than once, so it's best to have all there is."

Knuckles turned around and looked at Rouge, growling, "Fine, I'll come, but if I come back and the Master Emerald is gone, then it's you I'll be coming after."

"Always the accuser, are you?" Rouge asked, smiling.

Knuckles ran by Rouge and they both ran to the edge of Angel Island, jumping off. They both glided to Station Square.

Sonic was able to get away from Amy, and finally had a chance to relax. The sun was setting, and the blue blur couldn't help but to stare at it. His mind suddenly shifted from thinking about what to do, to Shadow. He thought back to what happened recently.

_Sonic and Shadow were running along the forest, racing each other. Their speeds were at top speed, going neck and neck. They separated when robots came, and they both used their homing attacks to destroy them, then kept racing if like nothing happened. Shadow grabbed onto a vine a swung around a tree as Sonic used his triangle jump along a number of small trees to get to a hill that was separated from the rest of the forest. They both landed on the hill, and rolled down. Going up a slope, Sonic and Shadow got out of their balls and got big air. They both did various air tricks and then landed out of the forest, and into the plains. They ran, both of them pushing themselves to their hardest. They saw a big tree, and Sonic smiled, he broke the sound barrier and ran his hardest. Shadow did the same, catching up to Sonic. They gritted their teeth as they got closer to the tree, and they both touched it. There was a long pause between the two of them, and then Sonic looked at Shadow, and he laughed._

"_Looks like it's a tie again, Shadow," Sonic said._

_Shadow looked at Sonic, keeping his usual expression on him._

"_Aw, come on Shadow, you know it was close that time, and you have nothing to say?"_

"_I only did this because I was bored, not to see who was faster," Shadow said._

_Shadow turned around and began to walk off. Sonic frowned at him._

"_Shadow! I thought we were buddies!" Sonic shouted._

_Shadow stopped, and turned around, "Your name is Sonic."_

"_Yes, and?"_

"_That's right, that's all I know about you. If I can't know more, then I can't trust you."_

_Sonic eyes widened and he looked at the ground, "Well you could just get to know me better."_

"_The only reason why I'm talking to you now is because I have nothing else to do."_

_That hit Sonic hard, but he didn't try to show it. He just kept silent._

_Shadow turned around, "Farewell for now, Sonic the Hedgehog."_

_He walked off, and Sonic looked at him, frowning._

Sonic kicked a pebble to the ground, remembering that.

"How can Shadow not remember? Our first time meeting each other, the fight on Prison Island, that race to the control room aboard ARK, the Bio-Lizard…"

Sonic shook all his thoughts off and just looked at the street.

Shadow stands on a hill, staring at Station Square. Many thoughts go through his mind.

"Shadow… why does that name haunt me? It's the only thing I can remember about my past, and that gruesome image…" he eyes squints, remembering it, "Why can't I remember anything? And who is that woman? Why is it that Sonic wants to be my friend so badly?"

Suddenly, at the same time, Sonic and Shadow looked up as the sky turns red…

Shadow sees a small explosion at Station Square, "Hmph, pathetic humans, waste of my time."

He turns around, but then something drops from behind, and a hologram opens up.

"Shadow…"

"What the?" Shadow said, turning around.

"Find the seven Chaos Emeralds, and bring them to me as promised."

"Wait a minute, who are you? And how do you know me?"

The hologram says nothing, and it disappears.

Sonic swiftly looks around, seeing the carnage of what's happening to the city. Explosions were being made, and aliens kept dropping from the sky like bees coming out of a hive. He saw GUN troops, fighting the aliens with their guns, and putting up a good fight. However, the aliens pulled out weapons of their own, and began shooting back, and holding nothing back as they continued their slaughter.

"Oh heck no!" Sonic shouted, "I'm not going to just stand here and watch this, prepare to meet your maker, you ugly aliens!"

Sonic jumped off the building, and entered into battle.

Shadow was stunned, and kept thinking. He kept looking at the city and saw the aliens falling from the sky as well. He knew Sonic was already there.

"I can't just stand here…" Shadow said, "That figure seems to know me and I have no choice but to believe him."

Shadow kept thinking, _"Although, I can say the same for Sonic as well…"_

Shadow looked up, putting on his usual expression, "The only way to find the secrets to my past, is to get those Chaos Emeralds!"

Resolved, Shadow jumps down the hill and runs to the city…


	2. The Invasion Begins

Author's Notes: So, I decided to put up two chapters at once. The rest of the chapters will be put up weekly, and maybe even faster if enough reviews ask for it. Read and Review is much appreciated.

**Chapter 1: The Invasion Begins**

Sonic jump-kicked a small alien and landed on the ground. He crouched down as more lasers came his way. He jumped up and does homing attacks repeatedly on a horde of aliens. They all eventually fall, but more keeps coming from the sky. Sonic jumps back, seeing the giant aliens coming. GUN soldiers forms up behind Sonic and begins to shoot down the giants. The giants holds their hands forward and they block the bullets, and they begin the advance on Sonic and the soldiers. Sonic gritted his teeth as he goes into a ball and begins to charge up. He begins to glow blue as the charge is completed, and he jumps up, unleashing Light Attack. The attack kept going until the giants fell to the ground from a continuous beat-down. Sonic landed on his feet and looked at the giants. Those, and the aliens that Sonic took down not too long ago, melted to the ground and disappeared. Sonic looked in disgust as he watched that.

"These aren't ordinary invaders," Sonic said.

Sonic looked up, and saw another giant falling down. However, Sonic noticed it was falling on a group of soldiers. Sonic ran to the soldiers, jumping up and kicking the giant. It didn't budge. Sonic kept kicking in distress, yelling at the soldiers to move. Some of them moved, but the rest just looked up in shock.

"Heat Knuckles Attack!" Knuckles shouted as he crashed into the giant, blowing it away.

Rouge and Knuckles landed to the ground, and ran to Sonic.

"Looks like we were too late to tell you the news," Knuckles said.

"Yeah, and what are party they're bringing," Sonic said.

"Sonic!" a voice said.

The three turned around and saw Tails and Amy. Soon after, Team Chaotix came.

"Vector? Espio? Charmy?" Knuckles said.

"That's us!" Charmy said.

"At your service," Espio said.

"We saw the red sky, and then a few explosions at Station Square, so we decided to drop in," Vector said.

"Cool," Sonic said.

Sonic began running and everyone followed him. Rouge, Charmy, and Tails followed by flight. Everyone else ran.

"Alright guys," Sonic said, "Tails, Amy, you help evacuate the people; Rouge, Knuckles, you guys go see how the president is doing, Chaotix, find out who in the world is behind this."

Everyone nodded.

"What about you?" Tails asked.

"I'm going to hold off the invasion in Westropolis," Sonic said.

"Be careful, Sonic!" Amy shouted.

"No worries, let's move!"

Everyone ran to where they were assigned, and scattered.

Sonic leaped in the air and got on top of a building. His eyes widened as he saw the population of the aliens in Westropolis. They were absolutely everywhere. They were destroying cars, buildings, and overwhelming the GUN soldiers. Sonic looked up as he saw a giant beam coming to a building. It destroyed the building in seconds.

"These guys aren't playing around…" Sonic said.

Along the smoke, were aliens, holding onto a Chaos Emerald.

"So that's what they're after for! I should've known!" Sonic exclaimed, jumping down the building.

Sonic raced towards the pack of infantry aliens holding onto the Chaos Emerald. However, they all pull out their guns and begin shooting at Sonic. The blue blur dodged the shots and jumped up, preparing a jump kick to the alien who has the Chaos Emerald. Yet, a flying alien came and tackled Sonic to the ground. Sonic got back up, and got hit by a laser shot. He yelped in pain, but immediately shrugged it off when he saw more coming. He jumped out the way, and ran towards the pack of aliens, dodging more lasers as he did. However, he had to stop when another giant came in front of him, and had to dodge a punch from it. Sonic jumped back, staring at the group.

"How can I get through there… their defense is close to perfect."

Sonic's train of thought stopped when that flying unit hit Sonic's back. He fell to the ground, but soon got back up.

"And I am really getting mad at that thing!" he shouted.

Sonic gets ready to rush them again, but then he suddenly stops, turning around.

"What that sound?" Sonic asked to himself, listening, "Is that a…motorcycle?"

Indeed, it was a motorcycle, coming closer to Sonic. Two flying aliens flew by the motorcycle, making Sonic alert. He stared at the vehicle, trying to get a look of the driver. He was stunned to see the driver, and he dived out the way when the bike went past him.

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted.

Shadow gritted his teeth as he saw the giant, and he drove even faster. Going at top speed, the bike crashed into the giant, making an explosion. Shadow back-flipped off the bike, landing onto the ground, and noticed the giant wasn't there anymore. Sonic ran to Shadow, very glad to see him.

"Where you got that bike from?" Sonic asked.

"It was laying around," Shadow said.

"How did you learn how to drive it?"

"It's not that hard."

Shadow ran to the alien who had the Chaos Emerald, kicking its hand and making it drop the emerald. Shadow grabbed it, and jumped back. The horde of aliens grew angry at Shadow, and charged at him.

Shadow looked at Sonic, smirking, "Just watch this."

The black hedgehog disappeared, and reappeared in front of a flying unit, slamming it down. Then disappeared again, and reappeared by an alien, punching its head, and doing a spin dash at the gut. He bounced off, disappearing again, and reappearing over another alien, landing on its head, and stomping it to the ground. Sonic smiled at Shadow, looking at his graceful moves. He couldn't help but to be glad that Shadow was fighting evil with him. However, he couldn't just stand there and let Shadow have all the fun. He ran to a flying alien, jumping up and kicking it to a wall, then he got into a ball and slammed into an alien on the ground. Sonic and Shadow regrouped and stood back to back, looking at the alien group. Most of them were gone, and the rest rushed to the hedgehogs. Sonic and Shadow scattered and flanked them, making quick work of them with their famous homing attack.

Sonic looked at Shadow once the fighting was done, "Glad to see you came to join the party!"

Shadow had no expression on his face, "I didn't come here to help you, I simply came for the Chaos Emerald."

"Oh really? Then why didn't you left once you got the Chaos Emerald?"

"Because that would be boring," Shadow said.

"Well, come on then, if you don't want to be bored, help me take out the rest of the aliens in Westropolis."

"Already taken care of them," Shadow said.

"Whoa, that was quick."

Shadow looked at the Chaos Emerald, and began to walk away, "They wouldn't get out of my way."

Sonic put his hand on Shadow's shoulder, "Shadow…"

Shadow sighed, and turned around to Sonic.

"Come on, pal, I need your help on this one."

"Hmph, why should I? You have the rest of your friends to help you."

"Because we make an awesome team! Don't you remember back at…"

"That's just it, Sonic! I don't remember!" Shadow shouted, putting an angry grin.

Sonic's eyes widen as Shadow shouted at him, then he frowned, looking away.

"You think I'm collecting the Chaos Emeralds just for fun!? I'm trying to find out who the hell I am!"

"Shadow… I could tell you who you are right from the top of my head."

"You'd think I trust you to tell me the truth? I'm not going to be some goody-two shoes like how you are."

Sonic grew mad and punched Shadow, but Shadow blocked it with his hand.

"I'm not here to fight you, Sonic," Shadow said.

"Well you sure do sound like it!" Sonic said angrily.

"I was simply saying my opinion," Shadow said, letting go of Sonic's fist.

Sonic calmed down, "Look, I'll make you a deal."

Shadow raised a brow, "I'm listening."

"Help me take out these baddies, and I'll help you find your past," Sonic said.

"You know that means you'll be helping me find the Chaos Emeralds."

"I know, but if we become a team, then that also means you'll have to trust me."

"Hmph… I see, trying to make it a win-win situation."

"You could say that."

Shadow chuckled, "Fine, you win. I'll help you with these aliens, but don't forget your side of the bargain."

Sonic nodded, smiling. Suddenly, a flying alien came by Shadow. Sonic and Shadow jumped back and looked at it.

"You disobeyed me, Shadow!" the alien said.

The alien was a floating eye, having a squid-like body.

"And who are you?" Shadow asked.

"This is my third eye, used to stay in contact with you… but it doesn't seem like that's important now! I'll teach you what happens when you go against Black Doom!"

"Hah! What are you going to do? Stare at us till we grow old and die?" Sonic said sarcastically.

"Black Doom eh?" Shadow said, "You can put whatever you want at me, I'll just squash it beneath my feet."

"You pathetic hedgehogs… you'll die from your arrogance! Arise! Black Bull!"

The ground begins to shake, and it literally rips open. Sonic and Shadow looks at the hole, as a giant black blob rises from the ashes. It flies in the air, letting out a warcry.

"Black Bull!" the Third Eye shouted, as it flew away, "Take care of these two nuisances."

Black Bull lets out another warcry as it blows out a fireball at Sonic and Shadow. They both scatter and ran out the way, running towards Black Bull. A few infantry aliens drop down to slow down Sonic and Shadow, but the hedgehogs slid on the ground, knocking the aliens off their feet. Getting past them, Sonic and Shadow jump towards Black Bull and doing a homing attack. However, it seemed to do nothing.

"This blob got a lot of skin on it!" Sonic shouted.

"Seems like it," Shadow said, landing to the ground.

The infantry aliens begin to shoot at Sonic and Shadow. They dodged all the shots with their speed. Sonic ran towards the aliens, doing a kick to one of them, blowing it away. Shadow looked back at the Black Bull, and then jumped up to it, doing a kick. It was ineffective. An alien shot a laser out to Shadow, and he dodge it. But the laser went to Black Bull's eyes, and it screamed in pain.

"That's it!" Shadow shouted.

Sonic did his light attack to take care of the infantry aliens, and his ball rushed to Black Bull's eye, hammering it continuously. Black Bull screamed and shot out a fireball. It hit Sonic and he bounced back, hitting the ground. It shot out three more fireballs rapidly to Sonic. Shadow picked up Sonic, and jumped out of the way.

"Thanks," Sonic said.

Shadow just keeps his mind on Black Bull, and rushes towards it again. Sonic frowned, seeing he didn't get any feedback. He shrugged that off and ran to Black Bull as well. Black Bull shot out fireballs rapidly at the two, but they ran so fast that it kept going behind them. The hedgehogs jump up and they flew side by side. They both extend their foot and crashes into Black Bull's eye. It screamed again as it's eye was now pushed inside. Sonic and Shadow back-flips and lands on the ground, side-by-side. Black Bull howls in pain, it's eye closed. It goes berserk and rapidly shoots fireballs anywhere and everywhere. Sonic and Shadow tries to dodge every fireball aimed for them. One fireball hits Shadow, and he gets blown to a wall. Sonic looks at Shadow with a sign of concern, but then he gets hit with a fireball as well, going into Shadow. Both Sonic and Shadow hit the ground, and they steadily get back up. All they see is another fireball hitting them again, and they get blown away. They both skid across the ground, hurting badly. While they were down, another random fireball hits them, and they both hit a wall. Shadow swiftly gets back up, burn marks all over him, and looks at Black Bull. Sonic gets up shortly after him, breathing hard. Another fireball is aimed towards them, and Shadow grabs Sonic's arm. Shadow envelopes himself in a blue glow.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow shouts.

Time is stopped, and both Sonic and Shadow runs towards Black Bull, jumping towards it. Sonic begins glowing blue and Shadow begins glowing green. They curl up and starts the assault by using Light Attack. They repeatedly hit Black Bull, eventually piercing it's skin. Sonic goes inside it, and tears it up from there. Shadow lands to the ground as he stops glowing blue, making time go back to normal. Sonic goes through Black Bull's eye, uncurling, and smiles to Shadow.

"Look what I found!" Sonic shouted.

He holds up a Chaos Emerald, and Shadow's eyes widened.

"A Chaos Emerald!" Shadow shouted.

Sonic lands to the ground, and Black Bull screams out in pain, falling to the ground, and melting away. The GUN soldiers that were watching from afar cheered Sonic and Shadow on. They didn't know what exactly happened since Shadow used Chaos Control, but what's done is done. Sonic walks up to Shadow, and looks at the soldiers. Shadow simply ignores them.

"You see Shadow… even soldiers need an inspiration to keep fighting," Sonic said.

Shadow growls, "They don't need my support."

"Shadow, like it or not, you just saved Station Square. You're a hero."

"A hero, huh?" Shadow said, "It doesn't make me feel all warm inside. It's just another identity to my unknown past."

Sonic frowned, "Don't be such a party pooper, we just saved Station Square, so let's make the best of it."

Shadow sighs, and reluctantly nods to Sonic. He smiles, walking up to the GUN soldiers. Shadow follows him, not saying a word.

"Look guys, we may be in dark times right now, and this red sky really doesn't help make things easier," GUN soldiers chuckle hearing that, "but we're going to kick some alien butts and give them the boot, telling them to get out of our world and go cry to their mommies! You guys with me!?" Sonic put his arm in the air.

The GUN soldiers responded by throwing their own arms in the air, shouting, "Yeah!" A few kept chanting Sonic and Shadow's names. Shadow just turned around, and tried to shut himself out. He didn't want to become attached to these humans. He just wanted to get the Chaos Emeralds and learn about his past. He already has to reluctantly trust Sonic, and he already felt that he was trying to turn him into a hero. Shadow didn't want to be a hero. He already felt uneasy around the soldiers. Yet, he began to be at ease when it came to being around Sonic. He really did start to believe they were a good team, although; he didn't want to be his "friend" just yet.

Sonic turns to Shadow, smiling, "Let's go Shadow, we're heading to the GUN fortress to tell the big boss that Westropolis is safe."

"Hm? What about your friends?" Shadow asked.

"I know them, they'll be fine," Sonic said, looking at the blue Chaos Emerald.

Shadow looked at the Chaos Emerald and extended his arm out.

"Nah-uh," Sonic said.

"What?"

"Hey, it's better off if there's two of us to use Chaos Control, right?"

"You can use Chaos Control?" Shadow asked.

"You didn't know? Don't you re- oh… sorry…"

Shadow puts a smug on his face, knowing Sonic's mistake. Sonic looks away, trying to not make eye contact.

"Look, I can use Chaos Control, I used it before," Sonic said, looking back, "besides, we're partners, you can trust me."

Shadow growls, "Fine… I'll trust you on this one, Sonic."

"Great!" Sonic exclaims, "I won't let you down, buddy."

"Let me get something straight, Sonic," Shadow said, looking at him with a smug on his face, "We are not friends. We are nothing more than partners. I only accepted this deal because you seem to know me, and that will help me find out about my past. So stop calling me pal, buddy, or whatever else you say. Because it's getting on my nerves."

Sonic stares at Shadow, and then bows his head. The GUN soldiers are quiet, hearing this.

"Let's just go…" Sonic said, walking ahead.

Shadow follows from behind, and so does the GUN soldiers.

Sonic may have gotten Shadow to work with him, but he still has a long road ahead before they can become friends.


	3. Hatred

A/N: Well, it's that day again, and Chapter 2 is up. Thanks to all of my current reviews so far. I hope I'll be able to keep up the good work.

Chapter 2

Hatred

Knuckles and Rouge smacked down the last of the aliens that tried to enter central city. They both ran towards the president's office, going as fast as they could.

"I hope the president is okay," Rouge said.

"If he stayed in his office then the aliens shouldn't have touched him," Knuckles said.

Rouge nodded in agreement. They both closed in on the president's building. Knuckles noticed the water fountain and the limo he had.

"Nice place," Knuckles said.

"See? Good thing you did decide to get off that giant rocks of yours."

Knuckles only growled.

"I'm kidding, silly echidna."

Rouge smiled, and Knuckles did a small smirk, and they both ran into the president's building. They ran up the stairs and into the president's office.

"Mr. President, are you okay?" Rouge asked.

The President was looking out the window, "I'm fine, Rouge."

"No aliens came and attacked you, did they?" Knuckles asked.

"They didn't even came close," the president turned around, "There are no problems here, but thanks for your concern."

"Mr. President, you seem very calm," Rouge stated.

The president looked at his desk, staring at something, "Two years ago, two hedgehogs saved this world from destruction," the president looked up to Rouge and Knuckles, "I expect to see those two, fighting this new threat, and taking them down."

"You must have a lot of faith in Sonic and Shadow," Knuckles said.

"They've never let me down before; they have my full support."

"Sir, should you really stay here? Maybe you should head to the GUN fortress to be more secure." Rouge asked.

"No, I'll stay here. Those aliens won't get here."

"You sure?" Knuckles asked, "What if they do?"

The President holds up his arm and pulls out a pistol, "Then I shall use force."

"Let's hope you won't," Rouge said.

"Let's hope that," The president said, putting his pistol away.

He turned around and looked out the window again, staring at the sky. The sky was still red, but he could at least see the stars.

"_He put a lot of trust with Sonic and Shadow… let's just hope Shadow can keep that trust intact,"_ Knuckles thought, leaving the office.

"Knuckles, wait up…" Rouge said.

"Rouge…" the president said.

"Sir?"

"I remember the past times with Shadow two years ago. GUN is still a little hostile over it. Keep in mind you're still on probation. You cannot get into their affairs."

"I know, I'll keep myself out of it."

"Thank you."

Rouge walked out, standing by Knuckles. They both agreed to meet up with Sonic, and they rushed to Westropolis.

The Chaotix was at Station Square's Computer Lab. Espio was on the computers, searching for information.

"Anything yet?" Vector asked.

"It's only been five minutes," Espio said.

"Aww, I'm bored!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Hold your horses, let Espio concentrate!" Vector shouted.

"But I'm so bored!"

"Then go outside and fly around!"

"Be quiet!" Espio shouted, "I found something."

Charmy and Vector looked at the screen.

"Hmm… Return of Comet from 50 years ago… once in a lifetime event… what does that have to do with anything?" Vector asked.

"It's not that hard to explain. It can't be just a coincidence that aliens popped up."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because look where they came from?"

"The sky?" Charmy answered.

"Exactly, and where are comets?"

"At space… so you're saying this comet could be where the aliens are at?"

"It's only a suspicion," Espio said, "but the probability is pretty high."

"Well either way," Vector said, "We need more information. Let's tell Knuckles and the others what we thought of, then continue our investigation."

Espio hopped out of his chair, "Right, let's move out."

Sonic and Shadow lead the way to GUN Fortress. They had to walk, since the GUN soldiers didn't have the speed of what they had. Sonic started to get bored, then Shadow walked by him.

"Tell me Sonic…" Shadow said.

Sonic looked at Shadow, almost surprised to hear him, "What is it?"

"How did we first meet?"

Sonic was astonished when Shadow asked that question, and his eyes widened. He immediately saw what he was doing and shook it off.

"Wow, well um… let me think for a moment," Sonic said, "Oh yeah! It was when I destroyed a GUN Mech. You were standing on it, looking all cool holding your Chaos Emerald."

"I had a Chaos Emerald?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah, when I saw it I was surprised, and I tried to attack you, but then you used Chaos Control. You should've seen the look on my face when you warped on top of a building. My jaw dropped to the ground."

"What happened next?"

"You told me your name, and that you were the ultimate lifeform, then you warped out with Chaos Control again."

"Ultimate Lifeform…"

"I gotta say though, if you never showed off with Chaos Control, I wouldn't have been talking to you right now."

"What was that?"

"I erm… got into a bad situation with Egghead. He captured Amy, and he wanted me to bring him the last Chaos Emerald. Tails made a fake emerald for me, and I was going to give that to him. Yet, he suspected our plan and sealed me into a capsule. He shot me out in space and it was supposed to explode, but… that handy dandy Chaos Control saved my butt."

"And you did it with a fake emerald?"

"Yes, and it was all thanks to you."

Shadow smirked, _"So that's the reason…"_ Shadow thought, _"Sonic wants to be my friend because in a way… I saved his life… who would've thought out of all the other possibilities…"_

Sonic smiled at Shadow. He looked back at him.

"What are you looking at?" Shadow asked.

"I'm just surprised you wanted to know that," Sonic said.

"I got curious, that's all."

"That's what you always say, you just trust me enough to share you about your past."

"Hmph, like I can believe everything you say."

"But you do believe, don't you?"

Shadow glared at Sonic, and just looked forward, not saying anything else.

"What? Are you kidding me?" A soldier said.

"Not kidding at all… they said he gave us the order directly," another soldier said.

"But why?"

"I don't know… but he I've been with him long enough to know what he's doing."

"Yeah, I'm not backing down on him now."

Shadow stopped moving, and Sonic looked at Shadow.

"What's up?" Sonic asked.

The GUN soldiers raised their rifles and aimed at Shadow…

"Whoa, what are you guys doing?" Sonic asked.

"So, Sonic…" Shadow said, "The soldiers need an inspiration to keep fighting eh?"

"Yes…"

"Shadow, you are under arrest. Please surrender quietly," a soldier said.

"Then I must've given them one heck of an inspiration."

Shadow jumped up to the air and the soldier began shooting at him. Shadow moved at top speed, dodging all of the bullets.

"Guys! Stop this now!" Sonic shouted.

"We're sorry! This is a direct order from the Commander!" a random soldier said.

"What!? What has Shadow done to deserve this!?"

"We don't know, but I will always trust the Commander's judgment."

Shadow kept dodging bullets, and went in for an attack.

"No!" Sonic shouted to Shadow.

Shadow stopped, responding to Sonic for some reason, "Why did I stop?"

A soldier smacked Shadow with his rifle and Shadow hit the ground. Shadow got back up, but he automatically took a bullet to the gut. He dropped to his knees.

"Noooooo!" Sonic shouted, running to Shadow.

A bullet stopped Sonic from running to him.

"We are sorry, Sonic, but the Commander said we need to capture him."

"This is crazy!" Sonic shouted, "Shadow has done nothing wrong! He just saved the city for crying out loud!"

Shadow jumped up, and did a warcry, jumping to the group of GUN soldiers. One soldier shot up and it hit Shadow's chest. He was blown back and hit the ground, his body shaking. The ground started to get bloody.

"You pathetic humans… sneaking up from behind…" Shadow said, growling, "Sonic… now you know why I don't trust these people…"

Sonic looked at Shadow, and he put a sad look on his face.

"You allowed them to trick me… and now I have to pay the price."

"I didn't let them do anything!" Sonic shouted.

"Then why am I down on the ground right now?"

Shadow tried to get back up, but another soldier shot him in the gut again. Shadow screamed in pain.

"Stop shooting him!" Sonic shouted.

"Sir, Shadow is down, what shall we do…? Yes sir, over and out. Men, ready arms! Pull the trigger on my mark!"

Shadow pulled out his Chaos Emerald, and he looked at it. Soon, an image of Maria came into his mind, showing how a GUN soldier with a pistol shot her down.

Shadow gritted his teeth, _"These humans… they killed that girl… and now they're trying to kill me… but why? Am I dangerous to them? But I just saved the city…"_

Shadow's thoughts left him as he got shot in the leg. He screams in pain once again.

"That was too soon!" a soldier said.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" Sonic shouted, "Stop it or I'll stop you myself!"

"Ready… Aim…"

Suddenly, the Chaos Emerald Shadow was holding began to shine. He felt a tremendous power coming from it.

"You wretched humans… you deserve no lives… trying to kill me when I was the one that saved your lives!" Shadow shouted, standing up.

"Fire!"

the soldiers, shot their rifles towards Shadow. However, his body enveloped in a red glow, and all of the shots just bounced off. He began to walk towards them, Chaos Emerald at hand.

"Keep firing!"

"Shadow! Let's get out of here!" Sonic shouted.

All of Sonic's pleas were ignored. Shadow had fire in his eyes, and he had a very, very angry grin on his face.

"Do you really want to try to kill me now?" Shadow asked.

The soldiers just kept shooting, bullets just bouncing off.

"Then death to all who oppose me!"

Shadow rushed towards the soldiers, punching them out of formation, then kicked one soldier in the air, jumping up, and throwing him to another soldier. Shadow landed to the ground, and roundhouse kicked another soldier, blowing him to another soldier. The rest of the soldiers surrounded Shadow and kept shooting at his body in vain. Shadow grew angrier by the second.

"You stupid humans! Why do you keep having this false hope!? You all make me sick!" Shadow shouted, "Chaos… Blast!"

Red chaos energy exploded from Shadow's body. They all hit the soldiers and they either hit the walls or skid across the ground. The explosion was so big, that Sonic had to run out of distance.

"What is going on!? When did he learn that?" Sonic asked himself.

When the explosion was done, a crater was made. A soldier, battle torn, was crawling towards Sonic.

"Help me…" the soldier said.

Sonic was already angry at them, for that they were the ones who made Shadow act in self-defense. The soldier barely got up to his feet, and leaned on a car. He looked up, and immediately backed away from the car. Shadow landed on the car, getting even angrier by the minute. Due to Chaos Blast, the city was once again torn. Debris was everywhere and buildings were on fire. Shadow grabbed the soldier and lifted him to the air. He enveloped himself in a red glow again.

"Chaos…"

"No!!!!!!" Sonic shouted, kicking Shadow in the face.

Shadow got knocked back, and he lost his red glow. He stood up, looking at Sonic.

"You tricked me, Sonic! How can I trust you if the people you trust tried to kill me!?"

"I didn't do anything, Shadow! You gotta believe me!"

Shadow screamed in frustration. He couldn't believe that he allowed Sonic to manipulate him into helping him, only to get shot down by the soldiers. He felt angry, and he tried to control his power with Chaos Blast. Such a fierce attack couldn't be allowed to use so randomly. However, since it was his first time using it, he doesn't know how to control it much. Sonic ran to Shadow, holding onto him by his shoulders.

"Shadow! Shadow! You have to believe me! I didn't try to kill you!"

"Get out of my sight!" Shadow shouted, punching Sonic in the face, "Chaos Control!"

And with that, Shadow disappeared. Sonic's eyes began to water, and a tear ran down his face.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Sonic shouted, going to the soldier he just saved.

He picked him up by the neck, "You said the Commander ordered you to do this!?"

"Y-Yes!"

"What an idiot!" Sonic shouted, as he threw the soldier to the ground, and running off.

"I want to know why he ordered it, and I'm going to find out now!"

Shadow appeared at a forest. He held his head and screamed in pain. His body was aching from his wounds, and he was emotionally torn. What made him hurt the worst was Sonic. For that he actually began to trust him. Not only did the soldiers that Sonic trusted tried to kill him, but Sonic just stood there and allowed it to happen.

"Sonic… how dare you!" Shadow shouted.

His body turned red once again, but he turned back to normal, trying to control his power forcefully. He screamed as the power within him began to grow greater, and he threw the Chaos Emerald to a tree. His power began to drop, and return to normal. He breathed hard, and noticed the bullets that were in here are gone. He stood up, and walked. After the first step, his body shut down on him and he fell to the ground. He ached in pain, and closed his eyes, losing consciousness.


	4. Darkness Within

Chapter 3

Darkness Within

Shadow woke up a few hours later. He stood up, and looked at his body again. He didn't feel any pain, and his body looked okay. Shadow then remembered his Chaos Emerald and looked around for it. He saw it up on a tree and grabbed it. The green emerald shined happily when Shadow touched it. He got back on the ground and began to walk.

"Is it me…" Shadow thought, "Or am I forgetting something?"

Shadow thought back, remembering the fight back at Westropolis. He remembered meeting Sonic and getting the Chaos Emerald, then the fight with Black Bull, hey wait a minute…

"Sonic! That other Chaos Emerald!" Shadow shouted, turning around.

He began to run back to Station Square, but then his body turned red once again. The extreme pain returned to Shadow, and he got on his knees, growling.

"What is happening to me!" Shadow shouted as he screamed.

Shadow turned back to normal, only doing it forcefully.

"Perhaps I can answer that question…" a voice said.

Shadow turned around, and saw the figure that he saw from the hologram.

"Black Doom!" Shadow exclaimed.

Shadow jumped to Black Doom, doing a kick. Black Doom grabbed his foot and threw him in to a tree. The tree got snapped in half upon impact, and Shadow hit the ground, yelping in pain.

"I didn't come here to fight you, Shadow," Black Doom said.

Shadow got to his knees, "I don't care…"

Black Doom laughed a little, "Why such hostility? I only came here to help you…"

"And how do you expect me to trust you?"

"Because you have no choice."

"What?"

Shadow screamed again when he body enveloped in red again. He returned back to normal a second later, his body shivering.

"You seem to have problems controlling Chaos Blast," Black Doom said.

Shadow looked up, "You know about Chaos Blast?"

"Yes… you see Shadow… Chaos Blast comes from your anger and the hatred within you."

Shadow eyes widened, and he put a smug on his face, _"Hate? Anger? That's where it comes from…"_ he thought.

"I can tell you how to control that power."

"How?"

"First… you need another Chaos Emerald."

Shadow started to walk to the GUN fortress to get to Sonic.

"Wait!"

"What? I know where another Chaos Emerald is."

"I had another location in mind…"

Sonic rushed through a group of GUN soldiers, running in the GUN fortress. He jumped to the second floor and into the door, where he ran even more. Sonic got to an automatic door and rushed through it, not caring if it was opening on its own. Sonic looked around into the room he just ran in. It was the control room. A lot of people were on computers, and they were all disturbed from the sudden entrance Sonic made. He didn't care much, since what was standing from a distance was a human.

"Who are you?" Sonic asked.

"I am the GUN Commander," he said.

That's all he needed to know. Sonic jumped towards the Commander, attempting a kick. The Commander stepped out of the way and Sonic hit the floor. He turned around and tried a punch, but the Commander grabbed his fist and did an overhead throw. Sonic hit the ground, but automatically got back up.

"You're pretty fast for an old geezer," Sonic said.

Suddenly, Sonic heard a lot of guns loading up. He looked around as saw a rather large number of GUN soldiers aiming at his body. Sonic looked back at the Commander with a smug.

"You must be pretty angry to try to attack me in my own headquarters," Commander said.

"Better believe it," Sonic said.

"But I know you didn't come here just to throw your life away… what do you want?"

"Plain and simple… Why did you order GUN to attack Shadow?"

"Because he is evil."

"Yet he saved Station Square…"

"He's trying to trick you."

"That's a lie."

"How can you be so sure? Has he really told you that he'll help you fight the aliens?"

"Yes he-" "Or did you persuade him?"

Sonic put an angry look on his face when Commander said that. He was really starting to be ticked.

"I see I was right…" Commander said.

"No… you're wrong," Sonic said, "Shadow fought the aliens even before I persuaded him."

Commander just shook his head quietly, "Men, stand down."

The GUN soldiers lowered their weapons and went back to their posts.

"Now listen to me, Sonic the Hedgehog," Commander said, "If you have no proof that Shadow is working for the benefit of mankind, then I'm going to assume he's evil… and if you try to attack me again, then I'll make sure GUN doesn't show mercy the second time around."

Sonic stared at Commander's eyes for a moment… he noticed they were different colors. One was blue and the other was green. Sonic stopped looking and came to his senses.

"Just don't hurt Shadow," Sonic said, "If he turns bad… which I highly doubt, then I'll take full responsibility for him and take him out myself."

Sonic just realized he said that, lowering his eyes. He began to think why he even said that.

"That sounds promising," Commander said.

"Sir!" a soldier shouted, running into the control room, "Reporting in!"

"Report," Commander said.

Sonic stepped out of the way, listening in. The soldier stood at attention, his battle armor still on and rifle still equipped.

"Sir! Station Square has taken many blows, but we've been able to push back the Black Arms."

"Black Arms?" Sonic asked.

"They're the alien invaders," Commander said, "continue."

"Central City has only taken minimum damage, GUN, Knuckles, and Rouge has driven back the Black Arms from entering."

"How about Westropolis?"

"Westropolis has taken the most damage as well as the most casualties. The city is almost in ruins."

"Black Arms have been able to push through your defenses?"

"No sir, the most damage caused was from a black hedgehog."

Sonic bowed his head, hearing that.

"Hmm… Shadow," Commander said, "Reports on the evacuation process?"

"Thankfully Westropolis has fully evacuated all of the citizens with minimum casualties, however Station Square as a whole isn't even halfway done yet."

"Hurry along the evacuation, and keep the Black Arms away from the President."

"Yes sir!"

"Dismissed!"

The soldier ran out the control room. Sonic looked at the Commander with a firm look.

"I have no time to talk about Shadow right now," Commander said, "look, with or without him, we're still working together to take out Black Arms."

"Oh sure…" Sonic said, "Just don't be surprised if I turn against you if you try to kill Shadow again."

Commander chuckled, then he laughed a little, "Enough about that hedgehog, we have more important…"

Tails ran in the control room, "Sonic!"

Sonic turned around, "Tails? How did you know I was here?"

Knuckles and Rouge walks in behind Tails.

"We didn't see you around Westropolis," Knuckles said, "So Rouge showed us the way to GUN Fortress."

"Sonic! We got some bad news!" Tails exclaimed.

"Hold on a minute, where's Amy?" Sonic asked.

"That's just it, Amy is gone!"

"What? Again?"

"Amy said she was going to help out a family in packing their things, but after an hour passed, I looked everywhere and she wasn't around."

"Man! Everything is going wrong today!" Sonic exclaimed, "Look, you three stay in Station Square, I'll go…"

Before Sonic could finish, a worker on a computer shouted, "Commander! We've detected a Chaos Emerald just within the range of GUN's Security Base!"

Commander turned around, "Put it on screen!"

A big light-up came to the big screen in the control room. It showed a radar. It kept sweeping the current area, and a green dot kept coming up, showing the Chaos Emerald.

"Pinpoint the Chaos Emerald's location!" Commander said.

"We can't! The Chaos Emerald is moving too fast!"

Sonic's eyes perked up when he heard that, "Oh no…"

"What is it?" Rouge asked.

Sonic turned to his friends, "Something bad is going to happen… Knuckles, I'm sorry, but can you try and find Amy for me? I really gotta move!"

"Uh… sure…" Knuckles said as Sonic was already out the door.

Upon GUN's Security Base, was a black hedgehog on a search for his past. That hedgehog was Shadow, skating along with his air shoes. He approached the Security Base, remembering what Black Doom said.

"There's a Chaos Emerald within the Security Base…" Shadow said, "But it won't be easy…"

"_And remember Shadow…"_ Black Doom said, within Shadow's flashback, _"If Chaos Blast flares up again, use it."_

Shadow kept that in mind, as he got closer to the Security Base. There were two GUN soldiers guarding the gate entrance, and Shadow just went to them at full speed, doing a kick to the gut to one soldier, and throwing him to the other soldier. They fell to the ground, on to of each other, and Shadow jumped on the top body, and stomped them in the gut. Both the soldiers were now out cold, and Shadow pressed the button to open the gate. Shadow ran inside, noticing no alarms were being raised. Going inside the base, Shadow easily taken down the GUN soldiers that were standing in his way with solid punches and kicks. Those soldiers down, Shadow runs through a corridor, dodging bullets from a security camera. He steps into another corridor, and a large metal wall slams down behind Shadow, making sure he doesn't go back. He takes one step forward, and an infrared laser pops out in front of him. Shadow does a front flip over the laser, then a dodge roll as two more lasers came in front of him. Soon a large number of lasers came into existence and Shadow slid under them, and then jumping over another large number. Shadow was almost to the door, but then a highly large number of lasers came out and then moved towards Shadow with high speed. Shadow couldn't look quick enough to find an opening.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted quickly.

Shadow warped through the lasers and reappeared on the other side, quickly going through the door. On the other side of the room, was Black Doom's Third Eye.

"Excellent, Shadow!" Third Eye said.

"It wasn't hard, now where's that Chaos Emerald?" Shadow asked.

"Just straight ahead."

"How come your Third Eye is here and not you?"

"I had to take care of some business personally… now go get that Chaos Emerald."

Shadow smirked, and ran forward.

Sonic ran out of the Station Square, going full speed. He knew Shadow was there. Only he could avoid the radar from pinpointing the current location. He couldn't help but to think about what he said back at the fortress.

"If he turns bad… I'll take full responsibility and take him out myself…" Sonic said to himself.

He regretted saying that now. He didn't want to take down Shadow, even if he's not his friend. Sonic wanted to help Shadow find out his past so he could understand him more. Sonic shook those thoughts out of his head and ran to a forest, heading to the Security Base. Sonic looked up at the sky, the red clouds started to die out and he saw the moon. He smiled, thinking that the Black Arms were starting to dim down. However, Sonic stared up, and saw a meteor coming straight at him.

"What the heck!" Sonic shouted, jumping up.

The meteor hit the ground and exploded. Sonic wondered where'd that come from and he looked up, and saw Black Doom. Sonic's eyes widened as he saw him and Black Doom grabbed him by the neck, slamming him down to the ground. He punched Sonic to the gut, and Sonic got the wind knocked out of him.

"Give me the Chaos Emerald!" Black Doom shouted.

"I don't have it!" Sonic replied.

"Lies!" Black Doom punched Sonic in the gut again, "Give it now!"

Sonic stayed silent. Black Doom began to get impatient and did a barrage of punches to Sonic's gut, and Sonic eventually coughed out blood. Black Doom grabbed Sonic by the neck, and inspected him.

"Hmm… such a resemblance to Shadow… maybe you could be telling the truth," he said, not finding any Chaos Emerald.

Sonic's body shivered due to pain, but he grinned, "Told ya… now how about you let me go…"

Black Doom grunted, "Now listen to me, hedgehog, don't try to get into my plans, otherwise I'll show you the true ultimate power in the universe."

Sonic's grin went away, "Ultimate power?" Sonic thought to himself.

Black Doom threw Sonic in the air, and then formed a meteor. He threw it to Sonic and it hit home without any effort. Sonic hit the ground, not moving. Black Doom disappeared after that. A few moments later, Sonic's eyes opened. He weakly digged under on of his gloves, and pulled out the blue Chaos Emerald. He smiled, then chuckled.

"I'm coming Shadow…" Sonic said, falling unconscious.


	5. Chaotic Victory

A/N: I am sorry about the huge screw up I made. Apparently, I skipped a chapter within the story, and it's one of the important ones. To those who were reading, I apologize for my mistake. So, here is chapter 4.

Chapter 4

Chaotic Victory

Shadow skated down the corridor and breaks down a door, dashing into a rather large room. It was a circular room, with a supercomputer. Surrounding the center of the room, was a large number of boxes. In the middle of the room was a power supply unit. Shadow went closer to it, and noticed there was a Chaos Emerald in a circular tube, within the power supply unit.

"Hmph… misusing the Chaos Emeralds like that… they're not toys," Shadow said.

He went closer to the power supply unit, and reached out for the Chaos Emerald. When he touched it, alarms went off, and many automated guns hanging off the walls appeared and automatically began to shoot at Shadow. Not wanting to play around, Shadow used Chaos Control, getting him high enough to break down one gun, and then another, and then another, until they were all gone. Shadow landed on the ground, but noticed there were now five Bigfoot mechs that dropped in the way of the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow looked at them with a smug, not really liking this persistence GUN has. Suddenly, Shadow was shot in the back by a laser from one of the automated guns that had little energy left. He hit the ground, and the Bigfoot mechs opened up their missle caches.

"Now's our chance! Fire at will!" One of the pilots said.

They all fired out missles to the downed Shadow, and as they hit, Shadow screamed.

"Sir! We took down Shadow!"

"Good," Commander said back at GUN fortress, "Make sure he's dead."

Knuckles, Rouge, and Tails were listening from behind. Rouge was a little ticked off from this, and Tails only wondered why Sonic left so quick.

"So it is Shadow that went to the Security Base," Knuckles said, sighing.

"Looks that way," Rouge said.

"I'm going to look for Amy now, you two stay here just in case Sonic comes back."

Rouge and Tails nodded, and Knuckles ran out.

The Bigfoot mechs made a lot of smoke from their missle display. They waited for the smoke to rise, but two of them were already sure that Shadow was dead. Sadly, when the smoke risen, it only showed Shadow on his knees, with red chaos energy formed around him. Shadow grunted in pain as his energy began to go haywire again.

"You stupid humans… prepare to die!" Shadow shouted, standing up and rushing to them.

The mechs used their miniguns to fire at Shadow. Meaninglessly, Shadow took the blows, but was unaffected due to his protected body. Shadow got in the middle of the group and used Chaos Blast. All the mechs were blown to the walls and began to spark. The power supply unit took a direct hit, and it was destroyed. The Chaos Emerald went flying out of it, and Shadow jumped up and caught it.

"Sir!" a soldier said, "Shadow retaliated, I repeat, Shadow retaliated!"

Shadow looked at the mechs, and now has two Chaos Emeralds in his possession. He did an evil grin, as his body turned red again. He felt no pain, and he gave all the mechs an evil look.

"This is the ultimate power…" Shadow said, "Chaos Blast!"

Before the explosion hit… "We need backup! We need backup now!!!!"

Chaos Blast hit all the mechs, and they began to spark fiercely. Cockpits opened up and soldiers ran out of their mechs before they exploded.

"I repeat!" a soldier shouted, "We need backup now!!"

"Backup is on it's way!" Commander shouted from the radio.

The soldier dropped it's radio as he saw Shadow walking to him, coming ever closer…

Sonic woke up, opening his eyes slowly. He still felt like he got rammed by a truck, and pain lingered. However, he felt his nap was a bad thing, and he got to his feet.

"I gotta get moving…" Sonic said, forcing himself to run.

He began with a jog, then when he felt the motion going, he went into a sprint. After he really felt he had to move, he broke the sound barrier, going his fastest. Moving at the speed of sound, Sonic had no trouble getting to the Security Base. He ran past the gate, seeing the unconscious guards.

"…Crap," Sonic said, running down a corridor.

He saw more downed soldiers, and he kept running through, trying to ignore them. Sonic eventually got into the large circular room. He looked around it, seeing that it was completely destroyed.

"No! Please don't!" a voice shouted.

Sonic ran deeper in the room, and saw Shadow grabbing a soldier by the neck. He also saw four soldiers lying on the ground behind him, not moving.

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted.

"Not now, Sonic…" Shadow said.

"Please don't…" the soldier said, "I…I have a wife…"

Shadow put a smug on his face, "And I have no one."

Shadow squeezed the soldier's neck. Sonic heard a bone break, and his jaw dropped in surprise. Shadow dropped the corpse to the ground, still having his smug. Sonic was in disbelief. He ran to the soldier and checked his pulse, then he went to all the other soldiers and checked theirs. Then, he stood up, slowly, with his head down, and his eyes closed.

"You… you killed them!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow looked at Sonic and gave him an evil stare, "They deserved it."

Sonic turned to Shadow with an angry grin, "You'll pay for this!"

"Being a hero again, Sonic? Even after they tried to kill me… you still side with them?"

"Shadow! Killing them is only going to make things worse for you! They won't hesitate to kill you now!"

"Then let them come!" Shadow shouted, "One by one, they'll fall beneath my feet!"

"Excellent job, Shadow!" Black Doom exclaimed, floating behind him, "I see you got the Chaos Emerald!"

"It's you!" Sonic shouted, "Shadow! You sided with him!? How could you!?"

"I didn't side with anyone! But I'm definitely not siding with someone who is willing to kill me!" Shadow replied.

"After you seen what Black Arms did to Station Square… you would go this far…"

"Sonic, shut up, I'm tired of hearing you."

Sonic dropped to his knees, not believing this. He bowed his head, and closed his eyes, trying to hold in his emotions.

"Shadow… what about finding out your past? I was going to help you find it…" he said, sadly.

"I know about Shadow more than you ever could," Black Doom said, "and at least, he can do tasks of which he enjoy."

"That's not true!" Sonic shouted, holding his head up.

Shadow slowly shook his head, "Just be quiet, Sonic…"

Sonic slammed his fist to the floor, looking at the ground again.

"Let us leave now, Shadow," Black Doom said, beginning to float away, "allow this blue hedgehog to wallow in despair."

Shadow turned around and walked with Black Doom, and the head towards the door. Sonic looked up with fire in his eyes.

"You… you made Shadow turn this way!" Sonic shouted, standing up, "I won't let you do it!"

Sonic ran towards Black Doom, jumping up and doing a kick. However, Shadow got in front of Sonic, and countered with a roundhouse kick. This pushed Sonic back, and he hit the floor with a thud. Sonic stood back up and looked at Shadow with disbelief. This allowed Shadow to run up to him, and do a full swing punch to his face. Sonic was thrown into a wall, and he crashed into it. He hit the ground, but he slowly got back up. Shadow walked up to him, doing a small jab to his gut. Sonic dropped to his knees, holding his gut.

"Shadow… why are you…"

Sonic got interrupted when Shadow did a spinning kick Sonic's face. Sonic automatically hit the ground, and he tried to get back to his feet.

"Shadow," Black Doom said, "we have no time for this, finish him!"

"Right," Shadow said, lifting up Sonic's body by the head.

"Don't do it…" Sonic said, weakly.

"Sonic…" Shadow said, "I wanted to do this for a long time."

Shadow threw Sonic in the air, and his body turned red. He used Chaos Blast and the explosion consumed Sonic. Sonic screamed out as the pain went all over his body. When the horrific Chaos Blast was over, Sonic fell to the ground, out cold once again.

"Nice show, now let's get moving," Black Doom said.

Shadow nodded, looking at Sonic's corpse. He turned around, and walked out along with Black Doom. Before he did, he did one last look at Sonic's body. For some reason, he felt despair for him.

"Bigfoot team, come in! Bigfoot team… damnit!" Commander shouted, throwing the radio on the floor.

"This is bad…" Tails said.

"Commander! Our radars are offline!" a worker said.

"Then that means Shadow took the Chaos Emerald, we're blinded now."

"Why would Shadow do this?" Tails asked.

"Because your blue friend wouldn't listen to me."

Tails said nothing else, because with all that went on now, he had no argument to go against what Commander said. Suddenly, the Chaotix ran in the room.

"Guys!" Tails exclaimed.

"Tails! Where is Knuckles and Sonic?" Vector asked.

"Sonic went to find Shadow and Knuckles went to find Amy."

"Hey! Wait!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Quiet down, Charmy!" Vector shouted.

"But I got something to say!"

"Can't it wait?"

"No!"

"Okay, what is it then?"

"Where is Rouge!?"

Tails just noticed that, and he looked around for Rouge, "Um… not here."

"She was always good at sneaking out unnoticed," Commander said.

"Where could she be?" Vector asked.

"That'll have to wait," Espio said.

"Oh yes! I almost forgot!" Vector exclaimed.

"What?" Tails asked.

"Okay, listen up," Espio said, "We have a theory…"

Commander nodded, "Sounds like a convincing theory, I like your detective work.'

"We're trained at this!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Quiet down, Charmy…" Vector said, "but he is right."

"Like I said though, it's only a theory. We need more information to make it valid," Espio said.

"We could have detected the comet to see if there were life on it, but Shadow took that Chaos Emerald and now we have no radar," Commander said.

"No problem," Tails said, "you need a Chaos Emerald right? I can get one."

"It's not only that, but Shadow also completely decimated our Security Base."

"Oh…"

"Then that means we'll have to find someone else who has a radar," Vector said.

"…Okay, looks like we'll have to go drastic measures," Commander said.

"What you mean?"

"We'll have to go to the Space Colony."

"ARK?" Tails asked.

"Yes, until then, we're blinded."

"That sounds fun, plenty of hidden information for Espio to search for!" Charmy shouted.

"Then it's settled!" Vector exclaimed.

"However, GUN can't risk any type of transportation until Shadow is captured or killed," Commander said.

"No problem," Tails said, "all I need to do is finish up my shuttle with the Tornado and I'll be able to take it in space… it's almost done, just need fuel and a Chaos Emerald."

"There is plenty of shuttle fuel at Prison Island," Commander said, "As for the Chaos Emerald, I wouldn't know."

"We'll get the fuel!" Charmy shouted.

"Charmy pipe down!" Vector said, "but yeah, we'll get the fuel."

"Guess I'll try to find a Chaos Emerald," Tails said.

"Good, we'll leave this to you until GUN can get back on their feet."

Tails and the Chaotix nodded, and ran out.

Shadow and Black Doom were walking down a forest. Shadow looked around, and noticed a big number of Black Arm soldiers looking at him. Shadow felt uneasy, but certain that they won't attack him since Black Doom is the leader.

"So I see you can control Chaos Blast now," Black Doom said.

"Yes, I see it takes two Chaos Emeralds to sustain the power," Shadow said.

"Yes, and now it's time to get more of them," Black Doom looked at Shadow, "Here is your next mission."

"Yes, I'm ready… where is the next Chaos Emerald?"

"The next Chaos Emerald is with someone who became a… thorn to my side recently. I need you to get it, as well as take care of this nuisance."

"Sure… just point to the right direction."

Black Doom pointed west, "One piece of advice, keep looking at the sky, that's where he's at."

Shadow nodded, and began to skate away from Black Arms. For some reason, Shadow already had a feeling who he was talking about.

Knuckles searched for Amy all over Station Square, finding no leads to show where she could be. The last placed he searched her for was at Westropolis, and he actually had the time to see the destruction that has been caused.

"Hard to see Shadow doing all this…" Knuckles said, "then again, he did try to destroy this planet once."

He began to search through all the debris and ruins of Westropolis, still having no luck at finding Amy or a decent lead to her. Knuckles, finding nothing at all, decided to do all he could.

"Amy!!!" Knuckles yelled, "You there!!!?"

After a long pause, Knuckles just gave up. He stood there and thought of ways to find Amy.

"Sonic, why did you gave me such a crappy assignment?" he asked himself.

"Because you're his self-proclaimed rival," Rouge said from behind.

Knuckles turned around to see Rouge right up on his face. He backed up, startled.

"What in the world? Rouge!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Too close?" Rouge asked.

"Yes! What are you doing here anyways?"

"To help you out."

"Well I don't need it, thanks anyways."

"You stupid echidna, can't you just accept help for once?"

"Not when I don't need it from a thief!"

Rouge growled, "Fine, be that way."

"Good, now where was I?" Knuckles asked, turning around.

Knuckles began to think, _"Maybe I could use the Master Emerald to find where Amy is…but that's on Angel Island. It's too high for me to reach, and I definitely can't get Tails to fly me there since he isn't fully completed with transforming his plane. So how… oh crap…"_

Knuckles turned around to Rouge, who was just idling, muttering things to herself.

"Rouge…"

"What is it now?" Rouge replied.

"I um… need your help…" Knuckles said.

"Oh really? Well too bad, you already lost your chance."

Knuckles chuckled, "Something told me you'd refuse… hey, I'm sorry for being arrogant, okay?"

"Not good enough, and you're only saying that to get my help."

Knuckles stared at Rouge and she crossed her arms, putting a smug on her face. Knuckles cursed under his breath, then his eyes went wide.

"Hey Rouge…"

"What?"

"If you help me… I'll allow you to touch the Master Emerald…"

Rouge's eyes went wide, "You seriously mean that?"

"Yes… all you have to do is take me to Angel Island…"

"WELL WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!? LET'S GO!" Rouge shouted, grabbing Knuckles and flying to Angel Island as fast as possible.


	6. Blazing Rivalry

Chapter 5

Blazing Rivalry

Shadow raced down the field, keeping his eyes upward to know when who or what would appear. He was at a mountainous field, so he went up a mountain and he raced up there, going to the peak of it and just standing there. Shadow knew it had to be coming, because Black Doom would've said something if it changed course and stop coming eastward.

Suddenly, Shadow lowered his head and closed his eyes. He remembered the horrible beating he recently gave Sonic, and the devastating Chaos Blast he finished him off with. He even wondered if he was still alive. If he was, does he even have the power to move? Shadow opened his eyes and looked at the sky again. He saw the moon starting to lower down on the horizon. Soon, Shadow felt on his head and kneeled down as an image came to his head.

"I found you, faker!" Sonic shouted.

"Faker? I think you're the fake the around here, you're comparing yourself to me?" Shadow said to Sonic, "HA! You're not even good enough to be my fake."

Sonic had enough by then, "I'll make you eat those words!"

Sonic raced down the field to meet with Shadow as the black hedgehog jumped off the tree branch he was on to meet Sonic. They both greet each other by throwing a punch, and the ended up in a stalemate. Sonic jumped over Shadow and crashed into him, putting him to the ground. He bounced off and landed on the ground, staying in a fighting stance.

"Hmm… that hurt…" Shadow said, getting back up.

Sonic smirked, "Well I hope you weren't expecting me to give you a band-aid."

Shadow kept a smug on his face, and he put one hand near his face. He waved it swiftly and sent out four Chaos Spears to Sonic. Sonic, being the first time he ever seen them, got hit by one of them and he was knocked to the ground, then Shadow kicked Sonic in the air, jumping over him and hammered him back to the ground. Sonic caught himself, and jumped back into the air, giving Shadow a solid punch to the face. This made Shadow fly into the air, then eventually hit the ground. Sonic stopped to catch a breather, but then Shadow got to Sonic with intense speed, slamming his fist into Sonic's gut. Sonic got the wind knocked out of him as he grabbed his gut and backed up. He looked at Shadow, a little surprised he was even able to get to him that quickly.

Sonic grunted, "W-what are you?"

"I've already told you, I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform."

Sonic smirked as Shadow was boasting, and he did that same intense speed, slamming his fist into Shadow's gut. Shadow held onto his gut and backed away, but he eventually let go of it and smiled.

"So you're more than just a hedgehog," he said.

Sonic smiled back at Shadow, but the two hedgehogs eventually left the conversation behind as they both rushed towards each other, putting each other in stalemates as they both ram into each other with their speed. They switched to homing attacks and start to bounce off each other. Sonic found and opening during one homing attack, and he got out of his ball, kicking Shadow to the ground while he was doing his own homing attack. Furthermore, Sonic landed on Shadow's back, then jumped off to grab a little distance. Shadow got back up, and threw more Chaos Spears. Sonic jumped up to dodge them. However, Shadow met him in the air, and grabbed his head, throwing him back to the ground. Before Sonic could hit the ground, Shadow got under him and punched him squarely in the gut. With the aid of gravity and the force of the throw, Sonic coughed off blood. Shadow threw a punch to Sonic's face, then a hook, a kick to his gut, then a spinning kick to his face. The spinning kick made Sonic spin around in the air then hit the ground. Shadow backed away, staying in a battle stance. He was certain that Sonic wouldn't get back up, and he smirked.

"I have no time for the likes of you," Shadow said, throwing a Chaos Spear to Sonic's body.

Sonic jumped up and tackled Shadow into the ground, doing a fierce punch to his face while he was down. He jumped back and stayed in a battle stance. Shadow got back up slowly and went back into a stance.

"Do you know who I am…?" Sonic said, seriously.

Shadow stayed silent, but he was trying to control his breathing. Sonic was doing the same. Soon, he heard a beep.

"Shadow! What are you doing!?" Robotnik shouted over the radio.

Shadow noticed the voice, but kept his eyes on Sonic so he won't sneak up on him.

"Shadow, get out of here right now before the island blows up with you on it!"

"BLOWS UP!?" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow stared at Sonic, but then shook his head swiftly, "We'll have to finish this some other time."

Shadow ran off, and Sonic looked at him. Shadow looked back at Sonic, and noticed he was looking at him as well. Eventually, Sonic turned around and ran the other direction.

Shadow grunted as the image left his head, "What was that all about…"

He got back to his feet, and looked back at the sky. He thought of the image he just had.

"Could that be… the time when Sonic and I fought?" Shadow asked himself.

He didn't know the answer himself, but he kept it in mind. Then, it hit him.

"If Sonic was able to fight that fiercely at me the first time… then how come he didn't fight back when I beaten him?" Shadow asked himself again, "Could he been holding back… or did he not find me as guilty for killing those soldiers…"

Shadow kept that thought in mind. He now knew Sonic was going to be a formidable combatant when the time comes.

Knuckles and Rouge eventually found Angel Island. They were flying over the floating island and trying to find the Master Emerald Shrine.

"Rouge, let me go, I can take over from here," Knuckles said.

Rouge responded by letting him go, and Knuckles put his arms forward, gliding. Rouge followed from behind as Knuckles flew to the shrine of the Master Emerald. They both got to the Master Emerald, and they both walked to it. Rouge was smiling as she got ever closer, and Knuckles only hoped she wouldn't do anything rash.

"Remember, I get to touch it," Rouge said.

"I know, just don't do anything fishy," Knuckles said.

Rouge smirked at Knuckles as they stood by the Master Emerald. Rouge touched the Master Emerald and began to rub it. Knuckles looked at Rouge with a weird look as she began to get into it. She rested her head on it.

"Did you miss me, Master Emerald? I know that silly overprotected guardian kept you away from me," Rouge said.

"_Okay, that's too creepy," _Knuckles thought.

He left that thought, and placed a hand on the Master Emerald. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard, which was difficult since Rouge kept sweet-talking the Master Emerald. Knuckles finally put all his thoughts in the Master Emerald, while everything else is seemingly quiet. He began to see images of Station Square, and sees Amy helping a family packing up their belongings. Knuckles then saw another image of Amy leaving the house, waving to the family. After that, Knuckles saw Amy looking at the sky with a surprised look. Then, Knuckles saw another image, but he quickly opened his eyes once he saw an Eggman symbol.

"Rouge!" Knuckles shouted.

"What!?" Rouge replied.

"We got trouble, go find Sonic and tell him to meet me at the Red Mountains."

Rouge looked at Knuckles and noticed his seriousness. She said "Good-bye" to the Master Emerald, and flew off. Knuckles ran off Angel Island and glided to the Red Mountains.

Shadow opened his eyes as daylight broken out. He has been staying there for an hour, meditating, and waiting for his enemy to come so he can snatch the Chaos Emerald. For some reason, Shadow has felt this became more than just a search of his past now, being willing to be manipulated by Black Doom. Shadow looked at himself as his mind kept drifting back to Sonic and the GUN soldiers he killed.

"Am I… supposed to be evil?" Shadow asked to himself, "According to the things I've done, I'm probably labeled as being evil now."

"Shadow… help me."

Shadow grabbed his head again and kneeled to the ground, "What was that? Was that… a woman's voice?"

He rubbed his head, feeling a minor headache, "Something tells me, there's more to this… but until I can find out more, I just have to get that Chaos Emerald, and that's that."

Shadow got back up to his feet, crossing his arms. He looked at the sky and noticed the red sky has been blocked out by the sunlight, allowing the blue sky to return. Suddenly, a big shadow covered Shadow's body, and the black hedgehog analyzed it as being as huge as an airship. Shadow noticed many more airships come into view. What sparked Shadow's interest the most, was that all the ships had the Eggman symbol on it. Shadow put a smug on his face as he Chaos Controlled onto an airship.

"Doctor Eggman… time for you to give me that Chaos Emerald."

"Crap, I'm too late," Knuckles said, as he landed on the peak of a red mountain.

Knuckles saw Shadow on the airship, and he noticed him rushing down it, destroying many gun turrets and robots.

"I better get moving if I ever want to save Amy… it's gonna have to be a race between me and Shadow's rampage," Knuckles said.

Knuckles kept an eye on a certain airship as it flew by Knuckles. He back up, and ran towards the airship. He then jumped towards it and pushed his fists forward, his spikes stabbing through the hull. Knuckles climbed up the airship and got to the surface. He was then greeted by three pawns equipped with laser guns. They automatically shot at Knuckles, but he flipped over them, and landed behind them. Before the pawns could turn around, Knuckles rammed his fist on all three pawns with one might stroke.

"Gotta get moving!" Knuckles exclaimed, running forward.

Sonic staggered out of the crippled Security Base, barely able to stand up. He remembered his beatdown from Shadow, and he was still in disbelief.

"Why…?" Sonic asked to himself, "why is he turning this way?"

Sonic walked up to a tree and leaned on it, resting. He pulled out the Chaos Emerald, and he was surprised he even had it.

"Shadow knew I still had the Chaos Emerald," he thought, "so why didn't he take it?"

Sonic juggled the Chaos Emerald in his hand as he kept thinking, "Maybe… Shadow wants me to keep it, but even if he does, why…? It's obvious Black Doom is manipulating him… wait a minute…"

"That's it!" Sonic exclaimed, "He doesn't fully trust Black Doom yet!"

Sonic held onto the Chaos Emerald and put it back into his glove, and he got off the tree. Sonic stretched and loosened his muscles, feeling refreshed suddenly.

"Must be the Chaos Emerald…" Sonic said.

"Sonic!" Rouge shouted, as she landed in front of him.

"Whoa, what is it?"

"It's Knuckles, he wants you to meet him at Red Mountain."

"Knuckles? He must've found Amy, I'm on my way!" then Sonic thought, "I'll have to deal with Shadow later…"

"Sonic, wait, what happened to Shadow?" Rouge asked.

"He's with those aliens called the Black Arms, he's being manipulated."

"That can't be true…"

"It is, go back to GUN Fortress and tell Commander I'm okay, I gotta get to Knuckles."

Without waiting for a reply, Sonic dashed off, leaving Rouge behind.

"At this rate, it would take me forever to get there… I know!" Sonic exclaimed, "Chaos Control!"

Sonic teleported out of sight, and he began to go warp speed. He appeared on a red mountain, and noticed Eggman's air fleet.

"Eggman! So you took Amy…" Sonic said, "No time to waste, Knuckles need my help! Chaos Control!"

Sonic teleported onto a large battleship, and noticed many gun turrets were blown off, and debris laid everywhere. He then dodged to his left as a robot went flying off the battleship. Sonic's eyes tensed as he saw a certain black hedgehog.

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted.

Shadow looked at Sonic with a surprised look, "You again!"

"I may have let you go back at Security Base, but this time I'm not going to give you the chance to escape!"

"I have no time for you, Sonic! I need to get that Chaos Emerald!"

"Another Chaos Emerald… Shadow, you're not getting it for Black Doom, are you?"

Shadow stood there, pausing, "If I give Black Doom the Chaos Emeralds, he'll tell me about my past, so why don't you just back off!?"

"No thanks, we have a little score to settle…"

Shadow grunted to Sonic, then turned around, running off. Sonic looked at Shadow in disbelief, but then he shook it off, catching up to him. They both ran at the same speed.

"Sonic! This is not the time…" Shadow said.

"Sorry Shadow, but now it's time for me to finish this…" Sonic said.

Sonic and Shadow raced off, running across the huge battleship…

"Okay then Sonic… but remember… it's your funeral…"


	7. Fragmented Memories

**Chapter 6: Fragmented Memories**

Knuckles continue to smash through robots on the battleship he's on, using his spiked fists to penetrate the weak robot's hull. He eventually got rid of all of them, and continues running through the battleship.

"She can't be on here, not on a weak battleship like this one," Knuckles said, as he kept running.

Knuckles saw another battleship pass by, and he jumped to it. As he did, he saw a number of cannons explode right on cue.

"What the?" Knuckles said.

Knuckles looked around, and then saw Sonic and Shadow fighting each other as they ran down the battleship. He also noticed them using the robots as shields, making them be destroyed.

"At least Sonic will slow him down…" Knuckles thought, as he noticed another battleship.

Knuckles jumped on the next battleship and immediately punched out the cannons, making his way inside the battleship.

"I don't want to fight you Sonic!" Shadow shouted as he dodged a punch from Sonic.

"Too bad then, you've gone too far this time, Shadow!" Sonic shouted back.

Sonic and Shadow were still running side-by-side, with Shadow being defensive and dodging Sonic's punches. Shadow chaos controlled onto another battleship, but Sonic was right behind him, as he also used Chaos Control.

"So you can use it…." Shadow said.

"That's right, and now it's time to show you why they call me Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Sonic was able to punch Shadow, and he stumbled back. Shadow, a little ticked, turned around and ran off. Sonic took chase, determined to take down Shadow. Shadow noticed another battleship next to the one he was on, and jumped on it, with Sonic right behind him. A little fed up, Shadow suddenly stopped. Due to this sudden movement, Sonic didn't notice it quick enough to slow down.

"Chaos Blast!" Shadow quickly shouted.

Shadow's body quickly enveloped in red and an explosion erupted. Sonic crossed his arms in an "X" formation, allowing himself to protect his body. The blast hit Sonic, and he eventually bounced off it, landing on his butt. Taking this opportunity, Shadow took off, determined to find the Chaos Emerald. Gaining plenty of distance, Shadow began looking around at the edge of the battleship. From there, he saw a battleship that was a lot bigger than all the rest of them.

"That must be the doctor's flagship…" Shadow said.

Shadow knew he had to get there. But before he was called out Chaos Control, Sonic tackled him off the battleship. Both Sonic and Shadow, started to fall to the ground, and while they were falling, Sonic began to do a barrage of punches to Shadow's face. Shadow took a few punches, but he eventually pushed Sonic away from him.

"He really is serious!" Shadow exclaimed.

"Better believe it!" Sonic shouted back.

Shadow did a back flip, while in the air, and landed on top of a mountain. Sonic landed on the mountain as well, and instantly rushed to him with his fist pulled back.

"There's only one thing I can do…" Shadow thought.

Sonic threw his fist forward, but Shadow blocked it, then he pulled his own fist back and punched Sonic in the throat, right at the Adam's apple. Sonic choked and he hit the ground, holding his neck. Shadow seized this moment, and Chaos Controlled away from Sonic, and onto Eggman's Flagship. Shadow noticed how huge it actually was. The cannons were two times as big; there were more advanced robots, like the E-2000's, and the battleship its self looked 10 times as bigger than all the other ones. Shadow pondered, wondering just were the control room to this flagship could be. His train of thought was broken, when he saw one of the cannons explode, and smoke formed. Knuckles emerged from the smoke, and jumped up to dodge a beam from one of the E-2000s. Knuckles landed on it and slammed his fist into it. Then, he jumped off to avoid the explosion it made.

"What is Knuckles doing here?" Shadow asked to himself.

Knuckles continued to destroy the cannons; then he noticed Shadow and grew tense. Shadow did the same.

"Shadow! What are you doing here!?" Knuckles shouted.

"That's none of your concern!" Shadow replied.

"I heard you were working with Black Doom, if that's true then I'll have no choice but to fight you!"

Shadow got tense, but then, he did a small smirk, "I've seen you fight before, you won't defeat me."

Knuckles rushed to Shadow, "We'll have to see about that!"

Knuckles threw a barrage of punches to Shadow, but he wasn't able to hit him because Shadow easily dodged them gracefully.

"Too slow," Shadow said, kicking Knuckles away from him.

Knuckles was forced away from Shadow, but he didn't gave up. He rushed back to Shadow with a warcry, throwing a fierce punch towards him. Shadow easily swayed away from the punch and kneed Knuckles to the gut. Due to the force, Knuckles got the wind blown out of him. Shadow held his stance while Knuckles was taking the pain.

"Why are you here anyways?" Shadow asked.

"That's… none of your concern," Knuckles replied.

Shadow put a smug on his face, "I'm only here to get the Chaos Emerald, and I'm not working with Black Doom."

"Really?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow nodded.

"In that case…"

Knuckles suddenly hit Shadow in the face with a fierce punch. Shadow stumbled back, but eventually got back into his form. Knuckles slammed his fist to the ground, causing an earthquake. Shadow couldn't keep his stance and had to keep himself up. Knuckles took his chance and rushed to Shadow with both of his fists back, charging up, giving them a red glow.

"Heat Knuckles Attack!" He shouted, instantly shooting himself to Shadow.

Knuckles got to Shadow's face and did a full barrage of punches. Shadow had no choice but to take all the hits. Knuckles did a full swing punch to finalize his attack and made Shadow hit the ground harshly.

"How do you like that!?" Knuckles shouted.

"What…what was that for?" Shadow asked, feeling the pain.

"There's no way I'm allowing you to get the Chaos Emerald, you seem to have a trend of having a negative use for them."

"Is that so…" Shadow said, "What did I used them for?"

"You tried to blow up the earth! Don't you remember!?" Knuckles shouted.

"I… did?"

"Don't play dumb with me!"

Knuckles jumped in the air and got over Shadow, and then he began to spiral down to him with his fists forward. This would be known as his Drill Claw Attack.

"Who would've thought, I would lose to…" Shadow muttered.

Suddenly, Shadow's head began to hurt again, and an image came to his mind. It was an image of Maria.

"Shadow! You must live…!" Maria shouted.

The image soon left after that, and Shadow's eyes widened.

"Maria!" Shadow shouted, as his body enveloped in a blue glow.

"What the!?" Knuckles shouted.

"Chaos Control!"

Shadow warped away and Knuckles' fists hit the floor. Shadow reappeared behind Knuckles, and kicked his back. Knuckles stumbled forward, and then turned around. He saw a fist come straight to his face, and then he saw three punches come to his gut, then an uppercut to the chin. He was then looking at the sky, because he got knocked down and hit the floor. Shadow breathed hard, because he still felt the pain of Knuckles' attack.

"Maria… who is she?" Shadow asked himself.

Knuckles slowly got up, and staggered to his feet, "How did he… got such a burst of power?"

"Knuckles, I do not wish to fight you."

"What!? What are you trying to say?"

"Because you're not part of my objective."

"I'm not letting you get the Chaos Emerald!"

"…If I really wanted to, I could mow you down right now."

Knuckles grew tense, and growled upon hearing that, putting his fists up.

"But what I would rather do is to find out why you're here."

"Huh? Well… I'm here because…"

Suddenly, Sonic tackled Shadow down from behind.

"Guess who!?" Sonic shouted.

Shadow elbowed Sonic off of him, then jumped away from Sonic.

"Don't you ever give up!?" Shadow shouted angrily.

"Not until I teach you a lesson!" Sonic shouted back.

Sonic began to rush to Shadow again, and Shadow got into a defensive position.

"Sonic! Stop!" Knuckles shouted.

Sonic stopped upon Knuckles' voice, "Huh?"

"Sonic, if you continue to go on a rampage like this then we'll never be able to get to Amy in time!"

"What? Amy is here?" Shadow asked.

"Yes, she's right here on this Flagship."

"But… Knuckles, Shadow is working with Black Doom!" Sonic exclaimed.

"I know, but you and I both know that he isn't loyal."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Shadow thought.

Sonic's eyes grew tense, "Fine, but how about this then… Shadow, how about you help us get Amy back?"

"What?"

Sonic took a deep breath and relaxed, then looked at Shadow, "If you're not loyal to Black Doom, then surely you can take a break from him and help us out a little bit… besides, Robotnik got the Chaos Emerald right? We can break two birds with one stone."

Shadow thought for a moment, remembering back at what happened back at Station Square. How Sonic just allowed the GUN soldiers to shoot him down, how he stopped him from killing a GUN soldier, and then how Sonic grew angry when he killed the soldiers that tried to kill him. But then, Shadow remembered about how Sonic and him took down the Black Arms, how they both worked together at taking down Black Bull, and the story Sonic told him about saving his life by showing him Chaos Control. How could Sonic trust him so deeply? How could he be so forgiving? Something didn't feel right, like as if Sonic was setting him up…

"Shadow?" Sonic stated.

Shadow looked at Sonic, "Fine, but once I find the Chaos Emerald, I'm leaving."

Knuckles smiled and Sonic nodded to Shadow.

"Don't try to pull anything fishy though," Sonic warned.

Shadow put a smug on his face and grunted, "Same goes for you."

"Knuckles, where do we go?"

Knuckles pointed forward, "We need to get to the end of this battleship."

"Good, let's move!"

Sonic rushes forward with Knuckles shrugging his shoulders then following him. Shadow looks at the sky, and remembers Maria's face.

"Am I really doing the right thing?" Shadow asked himself.

Shadow shakes thought off and rushes forward and catches up to Sonic and Knuckles.

"Come on, slowpoke!" Sonic shouted to Shadow, smirking.

Shadow got in front of Sonic and punched a cannon out of Sonic's way, "Keep your eyes on the road."

Sonic grunted, getting beside Shadow. He's never been the person to allow someone to lead. Knuckles got beside Sonic and they all ran forward, determined to get to the end.

Rouge walks into the control room of the GUN fortress, still wondering about Sonic and Knuckles, and how they're doing. Her train of thought ends when she confronts the Commander.

"Where have you been?" Commander asked.

"A woman needs her privacy," Rouge said, crossing her arms.

Commander grunted, "Very well."

"Sonic wanted to let you know that he's okay."

"So he survived Shadow's attack, that's good."

Rouge looked a little affected when the Commander said that, but she kept her form, "Where is Tails and those three other guys?"

"They left, the fox went to find a Chaos Emerald for his shuttle, and the Chaotix went to find fuel."

"…Why didn't you just give Tails the Chaos Emerald you had?"

"Because I need it."

"For that piece of… never mind."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing… nothing."

Commander ignores Rouge's remark, looking forward. Rouge sighs and leans on a wall.

"…Just you wait, Shadow…"

Rouge looks at the Commander, "What did he just say?" she thought.

Rouge stares at him for a moment, then shakes off her thought.

Knuckles bashes the door down, allowing Sonic and Shadow to rush into the bridge and destroy the confused robots with their homing attacks.

"We're almost there!" Knuckles shouted, running past Sonic and Shadow to lead the way.

Sonic gets in front of Knuckles and Shadow follows from behind. They all go into a narrow corridor; running up stairs, then emerges into a room filled with computers. Knuckles looks around and notices there were no more doors.

"This must be the control room," Knuckles said.

Sonic runs around the room, searching the area. Shadow takes the calmer approach and inspects the area slowly. Knuckles notices a big screen that was two times the size out of all the other screens that the other computers had. This screen, however, was holographic, and seemingly didn't require a monitor. Knuckles walks to it, and sees a holographic keyboard.

"Find anything yet?" Knuckles asked.

"Not yet," Sonic said.

"Nothing here," Shadow said.

"Then come look at this."

Sonic and Shadow looked at Knuckles and went to the big screen. Knuckles then looks at the keyboard and starts typing something, which his very hard due to the way his hands are.

"Maybe if we used this computer, then we can find just where Amy and that Chaos Emerald is," he said.

"But if Robotnik already know that we're here then they would move by the time we found out," Sonic said.

"Allow me," Shadow said, motioning Knuckles to move.

Knuckles got out the way, and Shadow got in front of the keyboard. He crouched down, and noticed the actual computer. He karate-chopped it with his hand. And the screen got full of static.

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted.

Shadow karate-chopped it again, and the screen became visible, showing Dr. Robotnik.

"Hey, it's Eggman!" Knuckles exclaimed.

Shadow stood up, and the whole team looked at the screen. From what they can tell, Robotnik looks irritated.

"Blast those aliens!" Robotnik exclaimed, growling, "Look at what they're doing to Station Square! How can I take over the city to build the Eggman Empire, if there is no city!?" Robotnik slammed his fist on the keyboard, "I'm at my limit; I have no choice!"

Robotnik put an angry grin on his face and swiftly turned around, pointing his finger forward, "CHARRRRRRGE!!!"

Robotnik's robots looked surprised from his enthusiasm, but nonetheless they obeyed this command and rushed out the door.

"So Eggman is fighting those aliens," Knuckles said.

"Looks like it, although his reasons are arguable," Sonic said.

"Quiet, there's more," Shadow said.

The screen changed from Robotnik's headquarters, to a battlefield. It was between Robotnik's various robots and the Black Arms. As of yet, it has been evenly matched, with both sides losing numbers.

"Yes, that's it! Destroy those black aliens!" Robotnik shouted from his hovercraft, "Go! My E-2000's!"

The golden E robots flew to the battlefield upon command, turning into their battle modes and shooting off gigantic beams. The beams covered the field and destroyed the aliens. However, five bulky, giant aliens came dropping down onto the battlefield, blocking the beams, and then shooting the E-2000's with their guns. They were all destroyed instantly, making the other robots come to arms and defend themselves. However, this was futile, as the giant aliens easily crushed them.

"No! This is impossible!" Robotnik shouted, growling, "That's it! Time for me to teach you all a lesson!"

After that, the screen got filled with static again.

"Looks like that's the end of the video," Knuckles said.

"Well, that's nice to know, but that still doesn't tell us where Amy and the Chaos Emerald is."

Shadow karate-chopped the computer again, but this time, it made the computer surge with electricity, and made sparks fly.

"Uh-oh…" Knuckles said.

"Looks like it's going to blow! Take cover!" Sonic shouted, getting behind something.

Knuckles and Shadow did the same, and the computer exploded, along with the keyboard and screen. After the explosion ended, Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles emerged themselves.

"You just had to destroy the computer, huh?" Sonic said to Shadow.

"Quit whining, look," Shadow said, pointing forward.

When the smoked emerged, it showed a destroyed wall, and it showed another corridor.

Sonic grinned, "So we got lucky."

"I won't lie, yes we did," Shadow said, skating forward.

Sonic smiled and ran with Shadow. Knuckles soon followed behind. When they got into the corridor, they noticed prison doors.

"This must be it! AMY! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Sonic shouted.

"I'm over here!" Amy shouted back.

"Yes! She's here!" Sonic exclaimed.

Knuckles and Shadow went to the direction of Amy's voice, and saw a metallic prison door.

"Amy?" Knuckles said.

"I'm in here! Get me out!" Amy shouted.

Knuckles got in a crouching position, pulling his fists back, "Shadow, help me out here."

Shadow nodded and got by Knuckles, into a crouching position.

"Ready… set…" Knuckles said.

Shadow turned his head slightly, and saw a shining light.

"Go!" Knuckles shouted, rushing forward.

Shadow rushed too, but not forward. He went to the light. Meaning, Knuckles ended up slamming himself into the door, and hurting himself.

"OW!" Knuckles shouted, holding his head, staggering around.

At this point, Sonic was laughing his head off.

"Shut up, Sonic!" Knuckles shouted angrily.

Shadow was able to get to the light, and his eyes widened as he saw the White Chaos Emerald. He instantly grabbed it, smirking.

"Shadow, what did you find?" Sonic asked.

"The Chaos Emerald," Shadow said.

At this point, Knuckles and Sonic was able to tackle the door down, and Amy instantly hugged Sonic.

"I knew you would come and save me!" Amy exclaimed.

"Ugh, Amy!" Sonic replied.

"She almost seems glad to be captured," Knuckles muttered.

Shadow put the Chaos Emerald in the air, "Chaos…"

"Wait! Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed.

"What? I told you I'd be leaving once I get the Chaos Emerald."

"Um… thanks for helping out."

Shadow's eyes widened upon hearing that, but he shrugged it off a second later, "What are you trying to say?"

"What do you think I'm trying to say, I'm just glad you're still on our side."

"I told you before, I'm not on anyone's side."

"Yeah, but that's not the whole story, isn't it?"

Shadow put a smug on his face, "I'll be leaving now."

"Shadow…" Amy said.

Shadow looks at Amy with a look of curiosity, "What?"

Amy moves away from Sonic, and walks closer to Shadow, "Why not stick with us a little longer?"

"I have other plans."

"It wouldn't help to just leave so abruptly."

"Sorry, but it's useless for me to be around you all."

"Come on Shadow, please help us. Do it for me…"

At the end of Amy's statement, Shadow instantly touched his head and grunted; kneeling to the ground.

"Shadow, do it for me…" Maria said.

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted, rushing to him.

Knuckles and Amy did the same, and Amy kneeled to him.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked.

Shadow looked up and saw Amy, but then, from Shadow's point of view, Amy changed into Maria.

"M-Maria?" Shadow said.

"Maria? I'm not her, I'm Amy!" Amy said.

Shadow closed his eyes, and opened them shortly after, and then saw Amy.

"Shadow, you okay?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Shadow said.

"I'm glad," Amy said.

"Fine, I'll help out."

"Wha?" Knuckles sounded.

"Don't ask, if you guys are begging for me, then I guess I can stay here for awhile."

"Hey… is Shadow developing a soft spot for you-know-who?" Sonic muttered to Knuckles.

"I dunno," Knuckles replied.

Shadow put a smug on his face, "I'm right here, you know."

Sonic smiled at Shadow, "Yeah whatever, let's just get the heck out of here!"

Amy stood up while Sonic and Knuckles began walking out of the corridor. Amy began to follow them. Shadow stood up, and stared at Amy, and he once again saw an image of Maria.

"Something isn't right…" Shadow thought, "Why does Amy makes me think of that Maria? Just what happened before all of this?"

Shadow thought about that for a while, and then put a smirk on his face, skating towards everyone to catch up, "Only one way to find out…"


	8. Who Am I?

**Chapter 7: Who Am I?**

The Chaotix was in a computer room, on Prison Island. The ninja, Espio, was working on the hacking, while Vector supervised. Behind the croc, was four tanks.

"How's it going, Espio?" Vector asked.

"Going smoothly, but I need the rest of those disks," Espio replied.

"Ah, let Charmy take his time."

It was no wonder why Vector and Espio didn't look… annoyed. Hyperactive Charmy was sent on a search mission.

"I would be more than happy to agree," Espio said, looking at Vector, "but we need to get out of here, we have more important matters."

"Don't sweat it, Espio," Vector said, "We already have the fuel for Tails, and we can find out more about these Aliens."

"Well, for what information I've gathered so far, my suspisions were right; it definitely has something to do with the ARK."

"ARK, eh? How very fortunate of us to be heading there."

"Well…"

Suddenly, Charmy comes busting through the door with two disks in his hand, "I found it! I found it!"

"Good! Give them to Espio!" Vector ordered.

"Yes sir!"

Charmy buzzed around Espio, making him having to grab the disks from his hands. Espio was eventually successful at this, and he put a disk in, while setting the other aside.

"Now, I can continue," Espio said, with a bit of enthusiasm in his voice.

Vector noted that Espio was getting just as interested in this as he was. They both wanted to know much more about these aliens.

"Well, let's get to work," Vector said.

Shadow, along with Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy, rushed out of the interior of the flagship.

Sonic took a deep breath, "Now that's more like it, fresh air!"

Shadow grunted upon Sonic's comment, not really agreeing with what he was talking about. However, he did felt that the air was comforting, as if he belonged here, on Earth. It only made it more unbearable though. He had to know about his past. Why was his name Shadow? Who is Maria? Why was she so… comforting? It felt as if Shadow found a long, lost friend, but his mind kept running away from it. He couldn't bear it. He felt that he had to stay strong. If not for himself, then for that Maria. That's right, stay strong. As long as he stayed strong, no one could touch him…

"Shadow?" Amy asked, looking concerned.

Shadow jerked his head up, looking at Amy. After a few seconds, that image of Maria came back into his mind. Why? Why does she remind him of that girl? What makes her so… unique from everyone else?

"Yo! You okay, man?" Sonic asked.

Shadow's train of thought was broken from Sonic's voice, "Oh, I'm… fine."

Shadow's eyes drifted away as Sonic was staring at him boldly. Such an obvious lie, and Shadow wasn't surprised that Sonic saw through it. What surprised him was that, Sonic didn't say anything else.

"We should get going," Knuckles said.

"Yeah," Sonic said, "let's use Chaos Control, Shadow."

Shadow nodded, raising his White Chaos Emerald in the air.

Knuckles grabbed Shadow's shoulder and Amy automatically latched onto Sonic with a bone-crushing hug.

"I always wanted to know what Chaos Control felt like," Knuckles stated.

Shadow thought about that for a moment. Besides the fact that it makes you want to hurl 10 times if you're not used to it, it's an exhilarating feeling to him. In fact, Chaos Control was the only thing he remembered when he first woken up.

"Ready?" Sonic asked Shadow.

"Yeah," Shadow replied.

The hedgehogs prepared themselves to use Chaos Control, but before they could they had to dodge a giant spiky ball and chain.

"So, it seems I had some visitors," sounded a voice all too familiar.

"Eggman!" Sonic shouted.

"The Doctor?" Shadow stated.

Robotnik came in his giant mech, crashing onto his flagship. Shadow felt the force of this landing, and so did everyone else.

"Well, well, well, aren't you some sneaky pests. I see you've done some rampaging," Robotnik said, putting an angry grin on his face, "It took a lot of work to finish my fleet! How dare you do this to me!"

"We love you too, Eggman!" Sonic shouted, grinning, "and we wouldn't mind doing it again."

"Why you ungrateful little…"

"Doctor!" Shadow called out.

Robotnik looked at Shadow, and he looked as if he was almost surprised to see him.

Yes… it had to be him. Shadow was sure of it. Images went through his head once again. But this time, it wasn't about Maria. He saw himself, in a wet, cold place, eyes closed, looking very, very lonely. Then, Shadow noticed what "he" was in… a stasis pod. Shadow quickly shook that image out.

"Doctor, please… I need to know," Shadow started, in a begged tone.

"Wha?" Robotnik sounded.

"Tell me… who am I? What is my past? What is my purpose?"

Robotnik put a smug on his face, "No."

Shadow was a little stunned, but he kept his composure.

"After what you've done to my fleet, a simple beg won't do."

Shadow had his hands curled into fists, right on the brink of blowing up. Was he toying with his emotions? Was he taking advantage of him? No, wait, he was trying to test his desires… damn him. Shadow thought about all of that, absorbing it in…

"He better not do it…" Sonic thought.

He was watching the whole thing, listening to Shadow's tone. It wasn't him, not at all. This past stuff was getting out of hand.

"No, he better not… no don't… OH MY GOD!" Sonic thought, angrily grinning.

Sonic watched Shadow get on his knees, and bowed his head, putting his hands flat on the floor.

"Please, Doctor… I need to know," Shadow said.

Sonic didn't like this one bit. He looked at Knuckles and Amy, and assuming from their looks, they were mutual with Sonic.

"Okay Shadow," Robotnik said, making Shadow's head jerk up, "Since you want to know so badly."

Sonic was a little relieved, he didn't like this side of Shadow.

"YOU HAVE NO PAST!" Robotnik exclaimed, grinning.

"WHAT!?" Shadow exclaimed.

"That's right!" Robotnik said.

"But… but how? All of these images in my mind… it doesn't make sense!"

"Why that's quite simple, they're all fake!"

"That can't be true…! Is it?"

Sonic was definitely not going to take this, "Stop toying with him!" he shouted, rushing to the mech.

Sonic jumped up and used his homing attack on the mech, but the blue hedgehog bounced off and landed on the ground, doing no damage to the mech. Sonic looked up, and noticed a shield coating the mech.

"What the…?" Sonic said.

"Get ready to face my greatest invention yet, The Egg Breaker!" Robotnik shouted.

"Must you call everything with Egg in front of it!?" Sonic shouted back

"Sonic!" Knuckles shouted, getting beside Sonic, "I can break through those shields, just distract it long enough so I can hit it," he muttered quietly.

Sonic nodded, and turned around. He noticed Amy trying to get Shadow back to his senses.

"Shadow, snap out of it!" Amy shouted.

"How? How can my memories be fake? Is… is Maria fake?" Shadow asked out loud.

"Shadow!"

Sonic looked back at the Egg Breaker, his eyes narrowing, "Alright, Eggman, you went too far this time."

"I aim to please, Sonic," Robotnik said.

Sonic rushed over to the Egg Breaker, and did a kick to the mech. Knowing it would be unaffected, Sonic ran around the mech and ran up it's leg, going up to the shoulders. Then, he jumped up and did a kick to the cockpit. The shield protected Robotnik from getting his head cracked open, but the mech itself did take damage.

"It's always that one spot, isn't it Egghead?" Sonic asked, grinning.

Robotnik growled, looking irritated. The Egg Breaker reached out and grabbed Sonic, but the hedgehog was too quickly to be grabbed.

"Get off, you annoying hedgehog!" Robotnik shouted.

"Can't touch me!" Sonic shouted, dodging another grab, "Getting warmer… whoops, you almost had me that time!" he dodged another grab, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, haven't you learned yet, Butt-nik?"

Sonic was still on the shoulders of the mech, and he continuously jumped around, dodging the giant metallic hand. Robotnik then looked forward, and shot out the mech's ball-and-chain. It almost hit Knuckles, and Red Rad was barely able to dodge.

"Knuckles!" Sonic called out.

"I'm okay!" Knuckles shouted.

Sonic narrowly dodged another grab by back-flipping off the Egg Breaker, "Hah! Man you're too- UGH!"

Sonic felt a large force hit his back, and the hedgehog fell to the ground. When he got up, he noticed the spiky ball rammed his back. Thanks to his small size, he got lucky with not getting pierced by the spikes, but of course, it still hurt.

But there was no time to rest, Sonic had to dodge lasers coming straight for him, and he did just that. The lasers went across the field, and almost hit Amy and Shadow, lifting up smoke.

"Sonic! Shadow still won't listen!" Amy shouted.

"You've got to keep trying!" Sonic shouted back.

Sonic then looked at Knuckles, who was using his Heat Knuckles Attack. Red Rad rammed right into the Egg Breaker. Knuckles then began to do a barrage of punches at the body, making the shields ripple. However, the shields stayed, and Knuckles' attacks did nothing.

"Crap!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Knuckles! You'll have to aim for the cockpit!" Sonic shouted.

"Right, just give me more time!"

"…Being the distraction is nice and all, but…" Sonic muttered, dodging the spike ball, "That's getting really old you know!"

"Shadow, you have got to listen to me!" Amy shouted, coughing from the smoke.

Amy's pleas fell to deaf ears. Shadow, in baby words, was in la-la land. His mind raced, staring at the memories he found. Maria, the fight with Sonic, the GUN soldier… were they all fake? Shadow didn't know what to think anymore. That cold capsule that he woken up from… what was going on?

"SHADOW!" Amy shouted as loud as possible.

Shadow then held his head again, getting a headache…

Shadow felt something automatically latch onto his back like a leech. He staggered a little.

"What the heck?" Shadow thought.

"Oh Sonic! I'm so glad you're okay! I thought I would never see you again!"

"Sonic? Who is Sonic?" Shadow thought, "Although… I would like to know who is grabbing me…"

Shadow didn't turn around just yet. In the back of his mind, he wanted to enjoy the small moment he got out of this, feeling appreciated. For that one second, he could forget about Maria…

"…Why am I blushing?" Shadow thought again.

Shadow slowly, reluctantly, and steadily turned around, catching sight of a pink hedgehog. She looked quite young, yet a little mature.

"Wait, you're not Sonic!" The pink hedgehog exclaimed, "Who are you?"

Shadow still didn't know what this young one was talking about, but he continued to stare at the hedgehog, puzzled. Why was she here? Well, obviously for this… Sonic.

"Maybe I could say that I'm…"

"Perhaps I can answer that question," Robotnik said, turning to the pink hedgehog with his Egg Walker.

"Oh no, Dr. Eggman!" Amy exclaimed, screaming in distress and running away.

Shadow looked at his "boss", a little bit in disgust, "So much for that…" he thought.

"Argh! Amy! Your time is impeccable! Shadow, Rouge, continue the mission, I'll take care of her!" Robotnik ordered, putting on his goggles.

Shadow and Rouge nodded, and ran off.

"Well, that was a weird moment, don't you think?" Rouge asked.

"…I suppose," Shadow said, but then thought, "but it wasn't bad either… Amy, eh?"

Shadow shook that out of his head, "The main mission is revenge. No time to dwell on nice things. I have to do this for Maria, and that's that."

Shadow let go of his head, and groaned a little, "Not another one…"

"Shadow, are you okay?" Amy asked, coughing again.

"Revenge… what about revenge…" Shadow said to himself.

"Shadow, listen to me!"

Shadow finally looked up, and saw… a pink hedgehog? Amy matched the exact description from his recent image. Now he really didn't know what was going on. Amy and Maria seemed to be directly linked to his past. Shadow felt… frustrated, angered, confused, and he didn't like any of those emotions in him.

"Yes, I'm finally getting to you, Shadow, listen to me," Amy said.

"Amy… its Amy, right?" Shadow asked.

Amy put a confused look on her face, "Yes?"

"Right… I'll have to remember that," Shadow said, then thought, "Unlike last time…"

"Um… okay," Amy said, then quickly said, "You got to help Sonic and Knuckles, quick!"

Shadow looked behind Amy, and saw that Sonic and Knuckles have yet to defeat the Egg Breaker, and they began to tire out. Sonic was beginning to slow down, panting a little, and Knuckles' punches were only tiring him faster. Again, the thought of his memories being fake began to enter his mind again, but he quickly pulled them out, standing up.

"I don't believe you!" Shadow shouted towards the Egg Breaker.

"Shadow?" Amy called out.

Shadow looked at Amy and nodded, then rushed over to the Egg Breaker, jumping up, and putting his hand in the air.

"This is what you get for making a mockery out of me!" Shadow shouted, quickly waving his hand downward, "Chaos Spear!"

Four spear-like energy blasts formed, and they went straight towards the Egg Breaker. It pierced through the shields and disrupted it.

"What the-?" Robotnik shouted.

"Shadow! Glad you see you're finally back!" Sonic shouted.

Shadow, seemingly oblivious to Sonic's statement, ran to the Egg Breaker, and jumped towards the cockpit. When he got there, he happened to be right at Robotnik's face. He destroyed the glass that covered up the cockpit, and he smashed the controls. Back-flipping off, Shadow spun around while falling to the ground, and then did a spin-kick to the chest area of the mech, making it be pushed back towards the edge of the ship. The Egg Breaker began to tip over, and Robotnik tried to do everything in his power to stay on the ship.

"Argh! I'll get you yet!" Robotnik shouted.

Everyone then heard a whistling sound, and it happened to come from Sonic, who was lying on the ground in front of the Egg Breaker. He then stopped whistling, and looked at the mech. The Blue Blur then poked the mech with his pointing finger, and the mech finally tipped over with Robotnik cursing Sonic's name.

"Whoops…" Sonic said comically.

"He deserved it…" Shadow said, a bit coldly.

"…Note to self…" Knuckles thought loudly, "Never piss off Shadow."

Shadow noticed Sonic walking towards him, and he just sighed dejectedly. He knew what was coming up next.

"That was way past cool, Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed.

"…Yep," Shadow thought.

"It's great to know that you remember how to use that painful Chaos Spear again."

"…You knew about Chaos… oh, right," Shadow said.

"Right what?"

"You know about since I used it on you when we first fought."

Sonic's eyes grew wide, "You remember the first time we fought!?"

"…Yes?"

Sonic grabbed Shadow's shoulders and shook him back and forth, "You remember! Holy molely! What else do you remember!? Huh!? Do you remember the time when…"

Shadow grabbed Sonic's forehead and pushed him back, "…Calm down."

Shadow noticed in the background that Amy was chuckling, with Knuckles almost fully laughing.

"Okay, sorry, excitement got me for a second," Sonic said, grinning, "So, what else do you remember?"

"…Not much else," Shadow said.

"…Oh, well, that's a start."

"…The only thing I can remember, is Robotnik talking about some island blowing up."

"Island… oh, Prison Island."

"Prison Island… that name feels familiar."

"Of course, it's where we first fought."

Shadow bowed his head and crossed his arms, thinking a little, "No, there's something else to it… I need to get there."

"We'll go with you then," Sonic said.

"…No?"

"Thought you might say that… remember that deal we made back in Westopolis? I'm positive that you didn't lost your memory that quick."

"…You make me wish I did," Shadow said, reluctantly remembering.

Sonic put his arm around Shadow's shoulder, and they began to walk forward, "All right, how about a little… friendly competition?"

"Uh-oh… what are you planning, Sonic?" Knuckles asked, following them along with Amy.

"I'm listening," Shadow said.

"We'll race to Prison Island."

"…Prison Island is isolated, Sonic," Knuckles said.

"And who said running on water was a bad thing?" Sonic replied, "So, how about it Shadow? Will you accept or chicken out?"

"First… get your arm off me, before you lose it," Shadow replied.

Sonic quickly did as told.

"And… yeah, I'll accept," Shadow said.

"Alright, now things are gonna get interesting!"

"One more thing though… Amy?" Shadow turned to the pink hedgehog.

"Um, yes?" Amy asked.

"When you first latched onto me that one time… when I was with the doctor…"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Sonic interrupted, his eyes almost fully open, "Amy, you latched onto Shadow!?"

Shadow just looked at Sonic with a look of slight disgust, but then the hedgehog looked at Amy, whose eyes were looking away from Sonic as if she felt embarrassed. Definitely something she wasn't expecting out of Sonic. He may not know it now, but at this very moment, Shadow was smirking.

"Well… yeah… you see, I wasn't looking around very well and I just happened to see a hedgehog, so I just automatically assume it was you," Amy told Sonic, trying to smile, "Now, Shadow… what were you saying?"

"Right… where did that happen at?" Shadow asked.

"Well, Prison Island… but that was before it blew up," Amy said.

"Hmm… everything seems to be linked to that Island… why?"

"Guys… how about we get off of here first?" Knuckles asked.

"Right… ready Shadow?" Sonic asked, holding up the Chaos Emerald.

Again, Amy latched onto Sonic, although the blue hedgehog was expecting it this time. Knuckles grabbed Shadow's shoulder, while the black hedgehog held up his Chaos Emerald.

"Chaos Control!"

Rouge paced back and forth… waiting was never her thing. She hated it. She'd rather be stealing jewels, or doing a mission, or working with… nah, she'd never go that far. Never that again.

The spy looked at the GUN Commander, _"That guy hasn't budged one bit…"_ She thought.

Rouge definitely had something on her mind… something she wanted to close, and that was mainly about a certain black hedgehog. Despite the fact that they have only treated each other as comrades, Rouge thought of Shadow as a friend. In fact, they almost were friends, until that time with the damned ARK happened…

One good thing came out of that event though. When Rouge found Shadow a few months later, she felt like she was looking at a new Shadow who just stepped into the world. No more talk about revenge, or pain, and she was definitely glad he stopped muttering about Maria. She felt as if, she could mend her mistakes, if she guided this new Shadow. Although, whenever she thought of that, a slight feeling of guilt stabbed her insides…

"Rouge," Commander said.

"Hm?" Rouge replied, not very enthusiastic.

"Black Arms has been spreading. Everywhere. We'll have to send out a strike team to lower their numbers."

"We? Are you saying…?"

"Yes, we need you out of probation."

Rouge smiled a bit, _"Finally…"_ she thought.

"If Shadow is there, we'll need you to abduct him."

Rouge's smile automatically turned into a look of great disgust, "Can't you just accept the fact that Shadow is on our side now?"

"Your mission is to suppress the Black Arms forces and to capture Shadow, dead or alive. The helicopter will take you to the deployment point."

Rouge still had her angry look, but the old man didn't even turn to look at her. Thus, Rouge just let out an irritated sigh, and walked out, heading towards the hangar.

"Shadow…" Rouge said, "despite was Sonic said…"

"…I still believe in you."

Shadow, and the others, reappeared at a beach. Apparently, this was the place where Sonic wanted to race towards Prison Island at. The black hedgehog looked around… a certain red echidna wasn't around, but then he looked around something and just noticed him behind a rock, making throwing up sounds. The hedgehog smirked from that.

"So, you decided to disobey me again, Shadow?"

"Huh?" Shadow replied, looking around once more.

A green flashed appeared in front of Shadow's eyes, and he closed them. Then, he felt a painful force hit him, and then he felt water slide across his back. When he opened them, he noticed he was on the ground, almost out in the ocean.

"So, I have to show you how it's like when you go against me again?" Black Doom asked.

"Black Doom!" Sonic shouted, "It's you again!"

"Hm, the blue hedgehog again. So you've been influencing my subordinate again."

"Hey! We treat each other like partners, unlike you!"

Black Doom chuckled, "Such enthusiasm for this black hedgehog… you have no idea who you are dealing with."

"Sonic, what is he talking about?" Amy asked.

Sonic didn't say anything. At this point, he didn't know what Black Doom was talking about either.

Shadow stood up, "I said it before, and I'll say it again, you can put whatever you want at me, I'll just smash through them! I'm doing this to find my own answers, not to help you!"

"Ah, Shadow, you still don't get…" Black Doom said, as more and more Black Arms infantry soldiers began to walk behind their master, "What I have been doing so far, was to help you…"

"What?"

"He has got to be lying…" Knuckles said.

"It will all come to you, very, very soon, Shadow…" Black Doom said.

Shadow had a look of curiosity, and then, the biggest, greatest, most painful headache entered his mind. The black hedgehog screamed in pain, as random images coursed through his mind. He dropped to the ground, putting his head in the water.

"Shadow!" Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles shouted as they rushed to him.

"What, WHAT IS THIS!?" Shadow yelled, as he screamed even more loudly.

"Shadow, listen to me!" Sonic shouted, "Whatever Black Doom is doing to you, snap out of it!"

Shadow couldn't even hear Sonic due to his own screaming. The images were going so fast, it was unbearable. He saw images of Maria, GUN soldiers, and destruction… blood.

"_Shadow…"_

"That woman again!" Shadow shouted.

Black Doom laughed a bit, and Sonic looked at him coldly.

"Shadow! Wake up! Wake up!" Amy shouted.

"That's it!" Knuckles shouted, standing up and rushing to Black Doom.

However, the Black Arms soldiers got to him first, and Knuckles was forced to fight them first. Easy pickings, but there was a lot of them.

"Shadow! Come on! You have to break through this!" Amy shouted.

Shadow looked up at Amy, and he saw nothing but the human again. Shadow's eyes narrowed.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!!!" Shadow shouted, smacking Amy away from him.

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted, surprised, confused, and angered all at once.

Amy got smacked, and she hit the ground. The force of that felt just like a punch, but she was able to handle that kind of pain.

Shadow stood up swiftly, holding his head still. The images just would not… stop!

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow shouted, as he disappeared.

"No!" Sonic shouted.

Shadow reappeared in a forest, still holding onto his head. However, after a moment, the images began to slow down, and his head felt more at ease. Shadow began to walk forward, rubbing his temple on his forehead.

"What's going on with me?!" Shadow thought out loudly, "I can't get these images out of my mind… Black Arms… how do they know me? Who the hell are they?"

Shadow looked at the blue sky, feeling a bit soothed, but his mind was still frustrated, "Just who was I before this?"

Suddenly, the world changed around him. Shadow looked at the ground and noticed it was turning red. Shadow showed a shocked look as his eyes widened. A moment later, Shadow looked around once more, and noticed he was floating in space…

"Whoa!" Vector shouted, looking at this information.

"Surprising…" Espio said.

"What is it!? What is it!?" Charmy exclaimed.

"No time to explain! This is valuable! ARK, Black Arms, that comet…" Vector said.

"Saving all of this information to a disk," Espio said.

"Good, we have to show this to Knuckles and Sonic, quick!"

Shadow continued to float in space. He looked around, highly confused, but at the same time, pissed off.

"_What is going on!?"_ Shadow thought.

"Shadow…" a familiar voice said.

Shadow turned around, and his eyes showed a sign of slight shock, "You…"

Black Doom was staring right at him, but then he pointed forward, "Look."

Shadow felt like attacking him, once he remembered about Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles, but this time, he knew that he wasn't going to win. Not at this state at least, so he turned around. Again, his eyes widened.

"Is that…?" he started.

"Yes," Black Doom said, "Space Colony ARK, from 50 years ago…"

"50… years ago?"

Shadow was surprised… did they just go back in time? He wasn't so sure though… he had to see something else, but then… bam.

"That's… me!"

Shadow noticed… well, Shadow, was running, holding a blonde human female's hand.

"W-what?" Shadow said again, as he saw the soldiers chasing him.

"_They look a lot like… GUN…"_ Shadow thought, his eyes narrowing.

"This will remind you what happened 50 years ago… NEVER forget that image."

Shadow soon felt his body in automatic motion. His breathing automatically began to heave, and he was sweating. He felt… inexperienced, scared, and shocked. He noticed that he was in a hallway, and he also noticed that he was holding that girl's hand…

"Maria!" Shadow called out.

"Shadow!" Maria called back.

"_Am I… reliving my past?"_ Shadow thought.

Shadow rushed into a room with Maria, and he locked the door, keeping the soldiers out. Shadow breathed heavily, slouching to the floor.

"Shadow… are you okay?" Maria asked.

"I-I'll be fine…" Shadow said.

Shadow looked up, and noticed Black Doom's third eye. Shadow was a bit shocked, and he looked at Maria. However, Maria didn't seem to notice it. Not at all.

"I can't believe what they did, Shadow…" Maria stated.

Shadow looked at Maria, and he nodded, "Me neither…" he then looked at the third eye again, and he only said one thing to him, and it stuck into his mind like super glue.

"Remember…"


	9. You Are Not You

**Chapter 8: You are not You**

"What did you do to him!?" Sonic shouted, as he kicked away the last Black Arm infantry.

No sounds, no voice, no destruction… no Black Doom. Sonic looked around, noticing this. He was too caught up in the fight to see that Black Doom slipped away. Sonic growled lightly, getting more frustrated by the moment.

"Sonic, they're gone," Knuckles said.

"I know, we need to find Shadow, quick, he's in trouble."

"But how? We don't even know where he is," Amy said, with her Piko-Piko hammer out.

Sonic thought for a moment… "Come on Sonic, think, think…" he then went into a thinking position, "There has to be some way… OH!"

"What?" Knuckles and Amy asked.

Sonic smirked, pulling out his blue Chaos Emerald, "Remember what Tails said about Chaos Emeralds acting like magnets?"

"Oh!" Knuckles and Amy replied.

"Right… but Amy, I need you to back to GUN."

"Why? Why can't I…" Amy begged.

"Because, I need you to tell the Commander what is going on. I need you to tell him that Shadow is innocent and I know it without a shadow of a doubt."

"Why can't Knuckles go do it?"

"Because…" Sonic quickly thought… "I can't trust, Knuckles, I can only trust you for this task."

Knuckles looked at Sonic with a disgusted look on his face, "Sonic… who was the one that helped you find Amy in the first place?"

Sonic smirked, "You got lucky."

"Are you serious, Sonic?" Amy said, with puppy-dog eyes.

"Of course."

"Okay, I'm right on it!" Amy shouted, running off seemingly as fast as the blue blur himself.

"Whew…" Sonic sounded, "That was close, let's go Knuckles."

Sonic ran off the opposite way Amy went, with Chaos Emerald in hand. Knuckles followed, running beside him.

"You know…" Knuckles said, "You could've used a better excuse."

"Yeah, yeah, don't sweat it, Red Rad," Sonic said, speeding up.

Knuckles sped up as well, "If you say so, True Blue."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shadow breathed harder, sweat falling to the ground like raindrops. He was still running with Maria in a hallway, holding her hand tightly. His mind wavered, confirming his surroundings with the mental images he has been plagued by. The majority of his images were correct, but there were extra…'details'. Those details, was blood on the walls, corpses on the ground, some missing arms, legs… Shadow forced himself to look at Maria, seeing her tear-filled face, then he forced himself to just look forward.

"We have to get out of this place…" Shadow thought loudly.

Suddenly, the walls surrounding Shadow just exploded beside him and Maria. The hedgehog held onto Maria and jumped into the air, back-flipping, and landed on the ground, avoiding the debris. Once the smoked cleared, Shadow saw five soldiers emerge.

"_Why do I feel so…"_ Shadow thought, _"…scared?"_

Shadow's feet went cold, turning into stone. He legs went shivered with fright, his breathing intensified a hundred-fold. He stared at the soldiers who had advanced onto him, and one of them elbowed him to the face and knocked him down, with Maria falling on top of him. One of the soldiers laughed, while kicking Shadow on his side, which made the hedgehog grunt. Another soldier walked to the other side and did the same, and the results were similar.

"L-leave him alone!" Maria shouted.

"_What's happening to me? Why do I feel so… helpless?"_ Shadow thought.

The soldiers looked at Maria, and they just… grinned… devilishly. One of the soldiers lifted Maria from Shadow, and then pinned her against the wall. Maria grunted from the force of the action. Shadow lifted his hand up in attempt to touch Maria, but the two soldiers kicked him again.

"Hmm… it's been awhile since I've seen such a nice-looking girl," a GUN soldier said.

The rest of the soldiers verbally agreed, saying their own perverted comments towards her… figure.

"W-what?" Maria stated frighteningly.

Shadow again tried to get up, using all of his strength, but one of the soldiers shot him in the gut, which made him scream in pain.

"Shadow!" Maria shouted.

"Shut up!" The GUN soldier shouted as he smacked Maria across the face.

Darkness came to Shadow's eyes, as he began to lose strength. His mind went blank, and his eyes began to close.

"Get off of me! Leave me alone! Why are you doing this to me…"

Shadow continued to be forced to listen to Maria, not being able to do anything. He began to hear the ripping of clothes, and weeping, and maniacal laughter coming from the soldiers.

"_Why… what is this… what's going on…?"_

Shadow's eyes opened. He saw nothing but darkness around him. The only thing he could hear were the tears and cries from Maria. Shadow looked around, trying to find the female, but was nowhere.

Shadow covered his ears, "END THIS NIGHTMARE NOW!!!!"

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"Do you see… now?"

"W-what…?"

"This is what happened to you…"

Shadow looked behind, and saw Doom's Third Eye, "What…? Are you… serious?"

"Yes… you see Shadow, this is how you were treated by those humans… they treated you like nothing. You were dirt. You were their doormat. They toyed with you and made your life here a living hell…" Black Doom said, "and… look at what they're doing to your closest friend."

"My… closest friend? Maria… was my closest friend?"

"Yes… in fact, she was your only friend."

"You have to be…" Shadow growled, getting angrier by the second, "…why?"

"Humans are so unpredictable… they would even destroy one of their own kind to get what they want. They believe they are superior When in fact, they deserve nothing. Your past proves it, Shadow."

"Those… those… those damned humans! They'll pay for this…"

"Just remember… remember what they did to you…"

Shadow looked around, the scenery around him began to change again, morphing back into the ARK in the hallway. His wounds healed. His strength returned… he felt brand new.

"…and bring swift justice to the humans!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The GUN soldier fell down, having a big hole in his gut. The rest of the GUN soldiers, four in all, looked in shock. They turned to their opponent and opened fire.

"Your lives are nothing!!!!" Shadow yelled, as he automatically got in front of another GUN soldier.

Shadow grabbed the rifle the soldier was holding and pointed upward towards the chin while the trigger was still pulled. The results were bloody, and obvious. The corpse fell to the ground, and Shadow switched to another GUN soldier and threw the rifle to his head. The soldier fell down, knocked out. Oh, but Shadow wasn't done. He uses Chaos Control and teleported above him, then landed on his head. Blood and bone-shattering debris appeared. Horrified, the remaining two GUN soldiers opened fire once more. Shadow turned to them, and swiftly sent two Chaos Spears, which destroyed the bullets, and hit the two soldiers. They both went sent crashing into the wall.

Shadow automatically got in front of a soldier while sending a Chaos Spear at the face of the other one. Apparently, he wasn't playing around anymore.

"You were the one that commented on how Maria looked…" Shadow stated, holding him against the wall while his hands glowed a golden color, "You have ten seconds to tell me where you took Maria. Otherwise, you'll be… 'All over the place'…"

"You're not…"

"Ten."

"Wait, I can…"

"Nine."

"I don't know!"

"Eight."

"Please, you have-"

"Seven."

The GUN soldier continued to beg.

"Six… five… four… three… two…"

"The head official took her to the GUN space shuttle!"

"Right…" Shadow put a smug on his face, "But that took three seconds to answer… you only had one second left."

Shadow jumped back and sent out the largest Chaos Spear he has ever made, and it hit the GUN soldier directly. The results… were so gruesome, that it would break the rating.

"Now… to find Maria," Shadow said, racing off, ignoring the corpses.

Shadow, determined to find his closest friend, ignored the voice coming from his head… "…Yes… that's right Shadow…"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rouge massaged her wings, sitting on her seat. She was currently riding a helicopter, assigned by GUN to abduct Shadow the Hedgehog, her friend and longtime ally. She began to think about him more frequently than ever, her mind remembered about the past times.

"He couldn't have done those things… not by free will at least," Rouge muttered.

Rouge continued to massage her wings, trying to keep herself calm. What was she going to say? Or another question is… is she going to do this in the first place? Well… she was doing this for the jewels, and the nice rewards… but what was more important? Beautiful, luscious and shiny jewels, or a close friend in need of support? Knowing herself fully… that was a tough question for Rouge.

"Rouge! Do you read me!?"

Rouge twitched, and pushed the small radio in her ear, "You don't have to be so loud, old man!"

The GUN Commander grunted, "Right, right…"

"So… where is he?"

"According to the energy signature, he's in the jungle. ETA is ten minutes. Your deployment point will be twenty miles away from his current position. We don't need him destroying this helicopter with you in it."

"He's not going to…"

"Understood?"

"…Yes…" Rouge said, sighing heavily.

"The infantry will back you up, but they'll stay at the deployment point until you give the signal."

"Whatever…"

"…Rouge, remember. If we fail this mission because of you, I will brand you as a traitor of GUN."

"Understood."

"I knew we would see eye-to-eye… over and out."

Rouge sighed, standing up, and looking out of the helicopter, seeing the green trees, "At this point… I wouldn't mind being one."

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Sonic and Knuckles ran side-by-side, dodging spikes, overcoming obstacles, and rushing by trees. Sonic looked at the Blue Chaos Emerald, feeling it pulse ever so frequently.

"We gotta be close," Sonic said, "hold on Shadow, we're coming…"

"You seem to care for Shadow more than before, Sonic," Knuckles said.

"Dude," Sonic said, "Shadow has helped us save the world two times… one of them being his own fault, but still… if Black Arms is going to try to warp him into being some evil bad guy, then I will stop them at all costs. He doesn't deserve to be one."

"I'm mutual, Sonic, I'll help in anyway possible."

Sonic nodded, jumping over a tree branch, "Besides… I have a promise to keep."

They continued to rush through the area, until they were forcefully stopped by three giant Black Arm aliens.

"Crap, they're here too!?" Sonic exclaimed.

"Looks like it, lets rumble!" Knuckles replied, getting into a fighting stance.

"Do you really believe that you will win?" Black Doom said, appearing from the ground.

"There he is! Let's get him!" Knuckles shouted.

"Wait! That's not the real Black Doom, that's a hologram," Sonic said, pointing at the holographic Black Doom, to reassure Knuckles.

"So… not only does a hedgehog that resembles Shadow is foolishly fighting against me, but he decided to bring along a gullible echidna."

"Watch it, I'm two seconds away from thrashing all of your soldiers!" Knuckles exclaimed.

Black Doom chuckled, "I wonder… should you two be standing here, trying to intimidate me, or should you try to find out what is happening to your precious Station Square?"

"What?" Sonic and Knuckles asked.

"That's right… Black Arms are invading the city as we speak… it won't last for long."

"And Amy is heading over there… she'll be in trouble…" Sonic said.

"What about Shadow?" Knuckles said to Sonic.

"Then there's Tails… and GUN is way too weakened to put up a fight…" Sonic growled, cursing under his breath, "Knuckles, let's go… Shadow will have to wait."

"Are you sure?"

"No… but I can trust that Shadow can take care of himself for now, but right now, thousands of lives are at stake! We need to move, now!"

Knuckles nodded, and he and Sonic ran off, away from the aliens. Sonic's eyes narrowed at he heard chuckling from Black Doom…

"I hope I'm making the right choice…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shadow threw the GUN soldier into a wall, cracking his skull, and he jumped high into the air to dodge incoming bullets from two other soldiers. He pulled out two Chaos Emeralds, one green and one red, and covered himself in a red aura. He landed on the ground, and began to walk towards his hated opponents, with a smug on his face. The soldiers continued to fire away, but to no avail as the bullets simply bounced off. When he was close enough, Shadow grabbed both of the soldiers, threw them in the air, and used Chaos Blast. Both soldiers were thrown into walls, and the sounds of bones cracking were heard.

"Useless, pathetic humans…" Shadow said, looking around.

Despite the smoke, blood, and charred walls, Shadow saw a door, and automatically ran to it, the door automatically opening.

"Hang on, Maria… I'm coming." the hedgehog said.

Shadow saw another soldier, holding a knife. He couldn't help, but the smirk with amusement. Perhaps it was because it was a useless attempt, or the soldier was just plainly stupid for being alone. Either way, Shadow didn't care. The soldier lunged forward, but Shadow swayed to his right, dodging the attack, and he grabbed the soldier's arm, bending it forward, then pushing it back towards his mouth, knife first. Damage done, Shadow kicked him into the wall, and skated forward.

"Ah… this should be more interesting." Shadow said, smirking.

Shadow saw two bigfoot mechs, both with two GUN soldiers inside of them. The mechs fired a payload of missiles at Shadow, and he skated forward, the missiles impacting to the ground behind him. The heat was intensely close towards Shadow, but he didn't care. He jumped into the air, grabbing two missiles and threw them towards the mechs. They impacted, stunning the robots, then Shadow used an intense homing attack on the both of them, making them ram into a wall, and instantly explode.

"I was wrong… that was boring," Shadow said.

Regaining his thoughts, Shadow ran to the next room, passing by it while punching an idling GUN soldier, knocking him into the wall with much force, enough to knock him out. His thoughts continued to gain images, putting the pieces of his past together quickly. Why did he trust these humans? Why did he save them? Why didn't he blow up the Earth when he had the chance?

Shadow smirked, "I'll have to consider trying that again…"

Kicking that thought out of his mind, he ran through another room, and got to a hallway. From there, it was filled with soldiers, having auto-machine guns. Shadow smirked.

"Your persistence is foolish," Shadow said.

"Fire! Fire now!" a GUN soldier shouted.

The GUN soldiers fired, non-stop. Shadow glowed a blue aura, and the bullets bounced off.

"Chaos…" Shadow said, skating forward quickly, with his arms outward, "Control!"

Shadow turned into a flash of blue light, and he quickly scattered around the room, reappearing at the other side of the hallway. He walked forward, eventually hearing a lot of bodies falling to the ground. He walked into the next room, and noticed he's in the docking bay.

"Almost there…" Shadow said.

Shadow then noticed a rather large vessel floating down, hovering above the ground.

"This is Heavy Dog, black hedgehog encountered. Preparing to engage and destroy!"

"Heh…" Shadow said, "Don't make me laugh."

"Show them your power…"

Shadow heard Black Doom's voice in his mind, and he nodded. He rushed over to Heavy Dog.

"Firing Energy Cannon!" Heavy Dog shouted.

A wave of energy erupted from Heavy Dog. Shadow looked surprised at first, then he smirked and jumped in the air, landing on a crate, which automatically broke from the energy wave, then he jumped up again, landing on Heavy Dog. He went over to the cockpit, and began to hammer way, punching and kicking the window. Heavy Dog locked onto Shadow and fired out a set of missiles, ten in all. The black blur looked at the incoming missiles, then he jumped up, landing on the wall, then began to run… not skate, but run, across the wall, making the missiles impact onto the wall.

"If you want to play that way…" Shadow said, "Chaos…"

Shadow jumped off the wall, towards Heavy Dog, and he waved his hand forward, "Spear!"

Three spears appeared, and they were thrown towards three missile packs on Heavy Dog, which all fell to the ground. Shadow didn't end it there though, as he jumped onto another crate, and jumped up again, curling into a ball, and used his famous homing attack onto another missile pack. The missile pack got pushed in, and the missiles exploded from the inside, which caused a lot of internal damage.

"Augh! Firing Energy Cannon!"

Shadow watched as Heavy Dog used it's energy cannon once more. And it consumed the hedgehog.

"Yeah! Take that!"

"Chaos…"

"What!?"

"BLAST!!!"

Shadow's red explosion easily overpowered the blue wave, and it consumed Heavy Dog, destroying the remaining missile packs.

"This can't be! Mayday, mayday!"

Shadow jumped high in the air, and curled into a ball. He stayed in place for a moment, spinning faster and faster, until he eventually dropped down like an anvil. He lands squarely on the cockpit of Heavy Dog, and he goes through it, destroying the human in the seat, and also destroying the mech. Shadow landed on the ground, on kneeled down with his eyes closed, as the mech exploded.

"That was pathetic," Shadow said, as the smoke lifted.

Standing up, Shadow ran over to the connector from the ARK to the GUN space shuttle. He opened the door, and rushed inside, getting into the space shuttle.

"Hmm… looks like you were prepared…" Shadow said.

He looked around, and noticed many soldiers armed with various weapons, pointed towards Shadow.

"But… do you really think that this is enough to stop me?" Shadow asked again, smirking, as his hands glowed gold.

"No…" An important looking GUN soldier, probably the official, said, "but we have something that you don't."

"And that is?"

The Official whistled, and a GUN soldier walked into the room, with a beaten, scarred, and torn Maria.

"…" Shadow was speechless…

Maria's hair was dirtied, her clothes were ripped, and she looked like she's been tortured. She was barely able to stand on her own two feet.

"Now, surrender quietly, or we will go to more drastic measures," the official said.

"…Chaos…"

The official pointed a handgun towards Maria's head, which made Shadow loses his blue aura quickly. Shadow gritted his teeth… he was trapped.

"Now… bow down, and say you were an idiot for being created."

"What!?"

The official loaded his gun, making Shadow grit his teeth once more.

Shadow got to his knees… slowly, and then put his hands on the ground, and looked at the ground, "I-I'm an idiot for… being created."

"Shadow…" Maria said, crying.

"I'll get you out of this Maria…" Shadow said.

The official smiled, "Now, say you are an abomination. You do not deserve to live."

"…" Shadow was becoming very pissed off, his hands and voice shivering with anger, "I am an abomination. I do not deserve to live."

"Shadow, please stop…" Maria said.

"Now, say that Professor Gerald was the worst and idiotic scientist in the world, purely because he created you."

"…Professor Gerald?" Shadow muttered.

"Say it!"

"Argh! Professor Gerald was the worst and idiotic scientist in the world, purely because he created me!"

"Now… say that you shouldn't have trust me."

Shadow looked up swiftly, "What!?"

The trigger was pulled, and Maria fell to the ground… not moving.

"Maria!!!" Shadow yelled, his eyes going dark once more…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shadow… how do you feel?" Black Doom asked.

"…" Shadow was speechless.

"I see… now do you believe me?"

"…"

"Humans, easily consumed by their greed, will even kill their own kind to get what they want. They do not deserve to have a righteous place in the world. They even mindlessly killed your closest friend, as you just saw."

"…Those bastards…"

"That's right, Shadow…"

"How dare they…"

"Here, Shadow… allow yourself to… catch up."

The Third Eye floated away, and then Shadow heard footsteps from behind. He turned around, and saw…

"…Maria?"

Maria walked ever so closer to Shadow, in the same state as she was before. Torn, beaten, and tired. Shadow skated towards her, and held onto her before she fell to the ground.

"Maria… I'm sorry," Shadow said.

Maria looked at Shadow, and smiled, "It's okay, Shadow…"

"No, it's not… I should've never trusted those humans…"

"…You shouldn't have…"

"I know…"

"You should've just killed them on the spot."

"I know…"

"You'll do that… for me, right?"

"Huh?"

Maria looked at Shadow, and put a hand and his cheek, smirking, "Do it for me, Shadow, kill all the humans… kill every single one of them."

"Kill… all of the humans?"

"Yes… Shadow… kill the humans! Remember what they did to me! They don't deserve anything at all! The only thing for them is swift justice and punishment! Only you can do that, Shadow!"

"Yes…"

"That's right Shadow… we loved each other… and they pulled us apart…"

"That's right… I hate them so much…"

"And what shall you do?"

"I'll… I'll kill them."

"Louder…"

"I'll kill them!"

"Louder!"

"I'LL KILL THEM!"

"Kill who!?"

"KILL ALL OF THE HUMANS!"

"That's right!"

"I'll do it! I'll do it just for you! I'll destroy every single one…"

"SHADOW!!"

Shadow felt a fierce slap on his face. Enough to make his head turn and his face turn red. He stayed in that stance for a moment, feeling the sting. He then felt a warm body on his chest, and hands on his back. Shadow noticed that he was back in the jungle, and he noticed the figure of the person hugging him…

"Rouge?" Shadow called out.

"Shadow… please, wake up!"

"Rouge…"

"Are you okay? You look so… torn."

"I'm fine…"

"Shadow… you kept screaming about… killing all the humans…"

"…"

"It was just a nightmare Shadow, forget about it."

"No…"

"Huh?"

Shadow shoved Rouge off of him, and began to walk off, "What they did to me sealed their fate. I will destroy every one of them!"

Rouge got in front of Shadow, "You're not serious!"

"I'm dead serious!"

"Shadow! You saved this world two times! One of them you remember fully, right!?"

"That was a mistake."

"Wrong, you know it was the right thing… just stop this nonsense!"

Shadow shoved Rouge again, but this time, into a tree, and she felt the force of the impact greatly.

"W-what are you…" she started.

"Nonsense!? Did you not know what has happened to me!? These damned humans destroyed everyone I knew I loved!"

"I-I do know…"

"Then you should under… what did you just say?"

"I-I know…"

"…You've been hiding this from me? For how long?"

"…Ever since we met."

Shadow's eyes narrowed, "…Was this before or after I woke up?"

"…"

"Answer me!"

Rouge closed her eyes, squinting them, "Before!"

Shadow grabbed her throat, very angry, "Why did you hide this from me!? Why did you made me suffer for so long!?"

"…"

"Tell me now! Before I…"

Rouge kneed Shadow in the gut, which made him release her, then she kicked him in the head which made him hit the ground.

"It was so I couldn't let you suffer more than you already was!"

Shadow looked up at her, staring at her figure, "Just how much you know about me?"

"…Not much…"

"Are you lying to me?"

"No…"

Shadow stood up, giving Rouge a cold look, "You better hope not…"

"You can't intimidate me, Shadow."

Shadow stared at her more, until he eventually turned around and began to walk off, "Whatever, I shall complete my task now."

"I'm coming with you."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am… I know what you can piece up your past at."

"Oh?" Shadow said, looking at Rouge, "And where would that be? My past is quite clear to me now."

"Prison Island."

"…" Shadow thought, _"That's the same place…"_

"Shadow… I don't care if GUN gets you, if Black Arms tries to destroy you, or even if you become enemy of the world. I know deep down inside, that you're a heroic hedgehog, and I am going to prove it to you."

Shadow looked at Rouge… speechless. Since when did she cared so much about him? In fact, she only cared about treasure the first time they met. There was absolutely no reason that she should be…

Rouge grabbed Shadow's hand, and they walked forward, "Come on you heavy thinker… I'll prove it to you one way or another…"

Shadow yanked away from Rouge's hand, "…Fine. If you can prove it, then I'll apologize for what I said…"

"No need… if I were you, I'd do the same thing."

"Then why are you not allowing me to do it?"

Rouge turned to Shadow, and she smirked, "Because you are not you."


	10. Faith

**A/N:** I'll be honest, I didn't think that I'd idle so much on this story. Hopefully I'll won't do that again and update this more frequently. So for all of the eager readers, here's the next chapter.  
-----------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 9: Faith**

Knuckles was currently being hauled by Sonic, his body waving in the air behind the hedgehog. Sonic was going his fastest, and Knuckles knew that he couldn't keep up with that sort of speed, so he had to be dragged. It wasn't so bad, he was able to see how the world looks like when you're just a blur, and compared to his quiet life on Angel Island—besides the times when he has to deal with Rouge—it was very grand. Now, if only his arm didn't feel like it was being pulled off…

The two ran in Station Square, seeing that it was still in the same condition as it was before they left: crippled, severely damaged, and portraying itself as a ghost town. Knuckles sighed, staring at all of the tilted buildings, busted cars, and the large number of debris. Black Arms and Shadow… just them, and they've done this in just a matter of hours. Is that even possible? Well, besides the obviously large surprise attack from above, this is Shadow we're talking about. Shadow is the person that almost destroyed the world and didn't care. In fact, if it hadn't been for his change of heart, no one would've been here by now.

Knuckles took those thoughts out of his mind, "So, where are those aliens at?" he asked, pulling his hand away from Sonic so he would be able to move around freely.

"Good question," Sonic said, looking at Knuckles, "We should find Amy."

Knuckles nodded, "GUN fortress then?"

"Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!" a voice shouted.

Sonic and Knuckles looked towards the direction of the voice, and noticed a familiar annoying bee in front of them.

"Charmy?" Knuckles asked.

The echidna looked around, and noticed Vector running to them. When he looked up, he noticed Espio falling from above, and landed on his feet.

"Chaotix? What did you guys find out?" Sonic asked, anticipating their reason for arrival.

"Info! Info! In…"

Vector covered up Charmy's mouth, "Espio, you do the talking."

Espio nodded, "We found the whereabouts of Black Arms."

"Well, not really," Vector intervened, "But we found two highly important clues."

Espio nodded, "Space Colony ARK and that comet."

"Hold on, did you guys see any aliens here?" Sonic asked.

Vector held a curious look from the slight subject change, "No, and we looked all around city just to look for you guys."

Knuckles eyes slightly perked up, "Then that means…"

"Damn!" Sonic shouted, stomping the ground with his foot, "He tricked us!"

"Wait, what is this all about?" Espio asked, in a curious voice.

"Sorry guys, but our talk will have to wait, Knuckles and I need to get going!"

Vector held a peculiar face, but he nodded, "Gotcha, we'll keep the info until you get back."

Knuckles slightly sighed, "He's going to pay for this…" he then noticed his arm get grabbed, and before he knew it, the world was a blur.

---------------------------------------------

Ultimate Lifeform… Space Colony ARK… Black Arms… Dr. Gerald… Maria… those words flooded Shadow's mind as he walked with Rouge beside him. His mind was still dead set on getting rid of the humans, and really, who could blame him? His closest friend was tortured then killed. He was abused by the humans, and his mind was traumatized by the whole incident. He saw no need to continue to search for his past, because he found it. He relived it for himself… what was the point of continuing?

"_You are not you…"_ Shadow thought, putting his hand on his chin, _"What the hell does that mean?"_

That statement confused him… what did she meant? Of course, Rouge is right there and he could ask him, but he was way too proud to even consider asking. Shadow mentally shrugged, it wasn't a concern right now. Rouge seemed to know way too much about him to just leave her. However, he knew a great deal about her too, and the footsteps he was hearing just reinforced his memory.

Shadow stopped, "So you brought friends along, huh?"

Rouge turned to Shadow with a bewildered look, "What? GUN is gone, I left them behind."

"Oh really?" Shadow said, his hands glowing golden.

Shadow extended his right arm in front of Rouge, powering up by the second. Rouge's eyes just narrowed and she held her ground. This is a side Shadow never knew about, and it only made his eyes narrow as well.

"_What is she trying to prove?"_ Shadow thought.

He stayed in that stance, waiting for the right moment. At the same time, Rouge still kept her stance, making her chest rise, seemingly holding her breath. Shadow continued to wait… until he heard a footstep.

That was all he needed, "Chaos…" Shadow said as he swiftly turned around and waved his hand, "Spear!" He finished as five spears formed and shot through the trees within the jungle.

From that, Shadow heard four screams from GUN soldiers. He turned back to Rouge, just keeping the same expression he had before.

Rouge paused, "I didn't know they were following us!"

Shadow grunted, "Don't lie to me."

Rouge just showed an irritated look, "You have to believe me!" she paused for a moment, "I've been worried about you for the past two days!"

Shadow was slightly stunned from that. Rouge, worried about him? Hardly. In fact, that should've made him laugh, but Shadow isn't the laughing type, far from it.

"Attack!"

Surprisingly to Shadow, that did not come from Rouge. The black hedgehog turned around to see a large number of Bigfoot mechs trampling down the jungle just to get to him. He noted something was different about them. Maybe it was the fact that their armor looked a lot more sturdy… nah, it was those chain guns attached to the belly of the mech that caught his attention.

Shadow just smirked, "A foolish attempt," he noted that Rouge was right behind him, but he'll have to deal with her later.

"Fire! Fire now!"

For a split second, Shadow could see many bullets coming towards him. He knew that he could dodge it, but something told him he should be thinking about something else… then it hit him. Cursing to himself, Shadow quickly turned around and grabbed Rouge, then jumped high in the air to dodge the bullets. Performing a front-flip, Shadow landed on a tree, then began to quickly hop to many others, quickly trying to get away from GUN.

Rouge just showed a surprised look, "S-Shadow?"

"I only saved you because you know a lot about me, don't think this changes anything," Shadow said, as he continued to do evasive maneuvers.

"…Thanks."

Shadow's thinking stopped for a second. That's the second time he has been told that, and it's a word he barely gets to hear.

"Yeah whatever," he said, getting his thinking back in order.

After awhile, Shadow stopped tree-hopping and landed on the ground, putting Rouge down. He mentally nodded, thinking back at scene. He closed his eyes, visioning where the bullets were coming from. They came at pretty much all frontal angles, all of which would've went through him if he hadn't dodged, but the main thing he noted, was that all of the bullets would've went through Rouge as well.

"_So I was wrong…"_ Shadow thought, opening his eyes and putting a smug on his face. It was something that Shadow never did liked to admit, but this one was dead obvious, and he was pretty sure Rouge knew this as well.

Of course, he wouldn't show this to the bat-girl, "Lets go," he said, skating forward.

He looked behind, seeing that Rouge was keeping up with him by flight. That was good, because fighting those mechs would be a bad idea if Rouge is going to be near him, and he needed her right now. Once Rouge showed him this useless information that would do nothing but reaffirm his conclusion about the humans, then he can toss her aside.

"_That'll be the plan…"_ Shadow thought, _"…For now."_

_------------------------------------------------------- _

"How could I just believe him like that?" Sonic asked, while speeding along the plains and into the jungle.

"You had no choice, Sonic," Knuckes said, still getting dragged, "It was a either believe him and keep the city safe or don't believe him and risk the destruction of Station Square."

Sonic thought for a moment, then he nodded, "You know, for a guy that has a world record of being tricked, that was pretty smart," He looked back at Knuckles with a smile.

Knuckles just put a smug on his face, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"I'm glad," Sonic said, remembering to keep his eyes on the road, and just in time to jump over lingering spikes, "Egghead should stop littering."

This wasn't going to be easy. Sonic knew that Black Doom would trick him if it was something important to hide. Just what did he do to Shadow? It was a question that continued to linger within him, and made him feel even guiltier than he already was.

"_I should just use Chaos Control to get to Shadow, but…"_ He looks at Knuckles, _"If I use it… something might happen to him…"_

"What's up?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic's train of thought ended and he looked ahead, just in time duck under a hanging vine that would've hit his neck harshly at the speed he was going, "Nothing, just thinking."

Thinking… Sonic grinned. He doesn't do that a lot. He has always relied on instincts to carry him through the world, and it has always worked. However, this isn't Eggman's crappy schemes, or GUN. This is Shadow the Hedgehog we are talking about, the only person to have ever equal his abilities and speed. This was going to take more than just instinct.

"Sonic! I hear guns!" Knuckles exclaimed.

Sonic stopped and let go of Knuckles, which made the echidna hit the ground lightly. Sonic did a nervous smile towards Knuckles when he heard him growl, but it was soon overshadowed by a lot of gunfire.

Sonic pinpointed the direction of the firing, "Lets go!" With that, Sonic ran off, with Knuckles following.

It didn't take long to know where the firing was coming from. Sonic slowed down when he saw GUN fighting the aliens, and they were having a western shootout. Sonic also noticed, to his surprise, that GUN was actually putting up a decent fight, but it looks like they weren't getting anywhere anytime soon.

However, this was the perfect opportunity… "Knuckles!" Sonic said, looking right at him, "Give GUN the upper-hand, I'll go up ahead!"

Knuckles nodded, and he gladly rushed towards the aliens with a warcry. Sonic smirked, and ran off, pulling out his Blue Chaos Emerald, feeling it pulse frequently.

"Where there are Black Arms, there's Shadow," Sonic said, looking ahead, "Chaos… Control!"

------------------------------------

Rouge was sticking right behind Shadow, who was still skating away from GUN. Sadly, they were still in the jungle, but they seemed pretty far from harm.

"I'll have to thank them later…" she muttered silently, doing a small smirk.

Really, if it hadn't been for GUN's stupid persistence, she would've never gained Shadow's trust. Well, at least, she _hopes_ its trust that Shadow is showing. Either way, Shadow has calmed down around her, which made more at ease. Of course, Shadow is still hellbent on destroying the humans, but Rouge had a plan… she just needed to execute it well, which is the hard part.

Breaking off her train of thought, the bat-girl looked at Shadow, who was looking at the sky. Curious, Rouge did the same, and to her surprise, there was a horde of black aliens in the air.

Putting on a grim look, Rouge looked back at Shadow, "What are we going to do?" There was a pause, and she spoke again, "They're both after you Shadow, we're basically pinned down here."

"Doesn't matter," Shadow said, looking at Rouge with a smirk.

"_He never could smile."_ Rouge thought randomly, then said "What are you planning to do?"

Shadow slowed down, which made Rouge go down to his speed, "You wait here, I'll take care of the Black Arms."

Rouge landed on the ground and paused, then nodded towards Shadow. She'll have to trust him. There was no way around it.

Shadow nodded back and sped off, and Rouge just leaned on a tree. Bah, she hated waiting, and it's only been a small minute and she's already irritated. She was fine at the base since there was stuff she could idle about, but this time, there was absolutely nothing to do, unless she wanted to get mowed down by a couple of Bigfoot mechs. To kill off time, she decided to think about what she just did…

"I betrayed GUN, and foiled the Commander's plan… became Shadow's ally… and currently sitting here and hope that I don't get trampled down by GUN's ugly faces," She then got off the tree and paced back and forth, "Oh… what am I going to do about jewels now? There's no way I can get one without openly stealing one… how infuriating."

She idled a bit longer before floating in the air, "That's it, I'm sorry Shadow but I'm tired of waiting," with that, she flew towards the direction Shadow went.

After awhile, Rouge noticed the area was getting… junky. There was debris lying around, and she knew that Black Arms don't use machines. This gave Rouge a bad sign, and she sped up her flight by lowering her wind resistance her wings were creating by pulling them back. Of course, this made her go more into a gliding motion, but it was good enough. She eventually got so close to the ground, that she did a front-flip and landed on her feet. She noticed that she slid a little, and thankfully just enough to not fall off of a cliff into a seemingly endless abyss.

"If this was here, then where is…" Rouge started, until her question is answered.

The bat-girl crouched to the ground when she noticed Shadow walking down the lower area, below the cliff. She also noted that two simple Black Arms units were walking right by him.

"_I don't believe it…"_ Rouge thought, narrowing her eyes.

Black Doom's Third Eye floated into the scene. Thankfully he was so concentrated on Shadow that he missed Rouge.

Shadow looked at the Third Eye with a smirk, "Having trouble with those GUN agents, aren't we?"

"Hehe…" the Third Eye replied, "What I sent, isn't even half of the force."

"_You have to be kidding me…"_ Rouge thought, seemingly bewildered.

"Everything is going according to plan… everything will be set, tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

Rouge was a bit surprised that Shadow didn't ask anything about tomorrow. It looks like he didn't care at all.

"Shadow… you should come with me. You have to be ready for the ritual."

"A ritual?" Shadow asked, putting on a curious face.

"Come… I shall show you what I mean."

Shadow nodded, and he began to walk towards the Third Eye, "Whatever it is, just make it quick."

"Oh, I think you'll be very interested."

"What is going on…" Rouge said, showing an angry grin.

Doubt. That's what she felt, and a whole lot of it. Everything that Shadow was, could, and maybe even _should_ be, has been all a lie. He was siding with the aliens, ready to destroy the humans once and for all. Rouge felt betrayed, and alone, because Shadow was the only person to have ever accepted her ways… and now he's hellbent on killing everyone… including her!?

"Shadow!"

Surprisingly, that didn't come from the bat-girl, even Rouge felt surprised she didn't yell that. Looking behind, she noticed quick footsteps, and there was only one person who could run that rapidly…

------------------------------------------

Sonic rushed past Rouge, jumping off the cliff and doing a front-flip, landing on the lower area, staring straight at Shadow and the Third Eye.

"Whatever Black Doom told you, it's not true! Don't listen to him!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Shut up, Sonic," Shadow said, "The humans will pay for what they've done!"

"Whatever they did, two wrongs don't make a right! The past is the past!"

"No! What the humans need is justice! They don't deserve to live!"

"Damnit, Shadow! You listen to them, but you won't listen to your partner!?"

Shadow folds his arms and smirks, "You're stupid Sonic," this made the blue one flinch, "You and your happy-go-lucky, peace for all, do everything right crap you always pull out of your ass. You could never give what is deserved for anyone! Not even me! You are worthless to me!"

Well then crap… that was a lot of the hedgehog to handle. All he could feel was his fists clenching deeply. Worthless? Happy-go-lucky? That was nothing like him, so exaggerated. He should say something but… his teeth are clenched so hard that he can't open his mouth.

"Hm… so his name is Sonic," The Third Eye said, "Sonic, you should get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day…"

At that point, the ground rumbled, and it opened up, allowing another Black Bull to appear. Sonic looked at it, dumbfounded that it's alive again, then he looked back at Shadow and the Third Eye.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted, raising the Green Chaos Emerald in the air and disappearing with a green flash, along with the Third Eye.

"No…" Sonic said, "I lost him again!"

-------------------------------------------

As soon as Shadow warped into another area, he caught a glimpse of Black Doom, who's Third Eye was back in it's proper place, and he was quickly warped again. Shadow appeared with a green flash once more, but floating within space, again.

"Shadow, look," Black Doom said, pointing in a certain direction.

Shadow looked and his eyes perked up, "The ARK? It's still here?"

"Yes, and not only that but it is infested with the very people you wish to destroy."

"Hmph… fine then. I see where this is going."

"Good… be sure to give them the justice that is needed."

Black Doom makes a wave of his hand and sends a flying alien towards Shadow. The alien goes under Shadow and allows him to mount on it.

"The Black Hawk will give you a quick guidance to the ARK's entrance."

Shadow smirked and nodded, then grabbed the Hawk's horns and pulled onto them, which made the Hawk fly off.

"Finally…" Shadow said, "I finally know what my purpose is."

----------------------------------------------

Sonic ran up a large tree, jumping onto another tree when it got destroyed by Black Bull's fireballs. The Blue Blur jumped off the tree and kicked Black Bull's eye, then he grabbed the skin right under it, and pulled himself up harshly, going pretty high in the air, and landed on top of the Bull. Sonic went into a ball and charged up, glowing blue. Once fully charged, he ran off to the front and jumped off, then he used Light Attack when he was right at the eye, causing him to ram it continuously like last time. Unlike last time, however, Black Bull throws out a fireball that hits Sonic point-blank. Grunting, Sonic is forced out of his Light Attack and falls to the ground… wait, he's not on the ground… more like in someone's arms.

"Need some help?" Rouge asked, while flying in the air.

"Not really, but it's appreciated anyways," Sonic said, looking back at the Black Bull.

Smirking, Rouge flies up to Black Bull, then moves her hands to Sonic's, "Get ready!"

Sonic nods, understanding the warning, and he grins. Rouge flies up to dodge an incoming fireball from Black Bull, and she begins to spin around, going faster and faster, until she goes into a spiral, taking Sonic with her.

"Don't screw up!" Rouge shouted.

"You too!" Sonic replied.

"I…" Rouge spins one last time and lets go of Sonic, "won't!"

Sonic quickly goes into a ball, ramming into the eye of the Black Bull. Again, he pierces the eye, except this time, he goes straight through on the other side, making the Bull roar in pain.

"End of the line for you!" Sonic shouted, getting out of the ball formation and landing on the ground.

A second after, Black Bull hits the ground as well, and disintegrates. A victory won, but Sonic wasn't the least bit happy. He looked back at Rouge, and she showed the same expression.

Sonic began to feel guilt once more, when he noticed the look on Rouge's face, and he walked to her, "Hey, I'm sorry that…"

"It's not your fault," Rouge said, sighing, "I just didn't see how Shadow really was… the Commander was right."

"Don't say that," Sonic said boldly, looking right into Rouge's eyes, "we'll get through to Shadow."

"You don't understand, Sonic," Rouge said, looking away, "When Shadow makes a decision, he is hellbent on carrying it out, and he will destroy anything, and anyone, that gets in his way." Rouge looks back at Sonic and sighs once more, "He is nothing like you, Sonic."

Sonic paused… what a mouthful, "You gotta be kidding… even you lost faith in him!?"

"I'm just facing the facts, Sonic! He even walked side-by-side with the aliens! He was even screaming about destroying all the humans on this planet!"

Sonic paused once more, "Black Doom is manipulating him! He's saying so many lies that Shadow doesn't know what to do! If we can give him the truth then we can save him!"

"Sonic…" Rouge said, lowering her head, "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what? Of course I know that he's from 50 years ago and on the ARK that had an accident."

"No, Sonic!" Rouge suddenly shouted, "That was all a cover-up for what really happened!" This made Sonic keep his mouth shut and listen, "Professor Gerald… he was creating the Ultimate Lifeform, as an experiment to cure Maria's disease; the rare but fatal, Neuro-Immune-Deficiency-Syndrome, or NIDS. The military feared that Gerald was going too far with his experiment, and ordered him to stop, but Gerald refused. He successfully created Shadow the Hedgehog, but soon after, GUN came aboard and killed everyone on board… including his best and only friend, Maria… do you understand now, Sonic?"

Sonic paused… wow. Wow was the only word that Sonic could think of to sum up everything Rouge just said. So GUN really was guilty of what Shadow was forced to feel, and that also meant what Shadow tried to do when they first met had a helluva good reason too.

"…And Shadow?" he asked.

"He was captured and became their supposed… top military secret weapon."

"I never knew that…" Sonic bowed his head

"I know, but at least you know now that…"

"But that doesn't mean we should just give up on him!" Sonic looked straight at Rouge, which made her flinch, "Despite all he has done, Shadow is innocent. I know that deep down inside, he is the brave and heroic hedgehog that gave his life for Earth! All he needs are his happy memories!"

Rouge just stared at Sonic and shook her head, "Wow, you really are what Shadow said."

Sonic smirked, "And Shadow is not who he is, and I'm going to give him a good reminder…" Sonic thought for a moment, then nodded, "Lets go back to Station Square."

"…One problem," Rouge said.

------------------------------------------

Another GUN beetle bites the space-dust… that was about thirty of them so far, and none of them have detected him. He couldn't wait to get inside… space was so bland, and riding on this damned Hawk was annoying. However, he was close. He was finally inside the ARK's atmosphere. All he needed to do now was to get to the entrance and destroy things along the way. Easier done than said, of course. Pulling on the horns, the Hawk rushed down it's path, ramming through another GUN beetle.

"Chaos Spear!"

Two chaos spears are thrown, and two idling Bigfoot mechs are decimated. It was odd how GUN believed they could win, such pathetic idiots. They deserve to die; they deserve to have everything they cherish lost, just like the black hedgehog that has suffered for a long time.

Shadow jumped off the Black Hawk and landed on the platform that lead to the entrance. Wasting no time, Shadow kicked the door open and smirked, "Home Sweet Home."


	11. Revisit

A/N: Sorry for the somewhat small chapter, but what I typed up seemed like a good ending for this chapter. Next chapter will definitely be larger in terms of words.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Revisit**

"Alright! That seems to be the last of them!" Knuckles shouted to the GUN soldiers.

Red Rad, with help from GUN, has taken down the Black Arms within the area. Casualties were at a minimum, and no one was injured. Knuckles smirked; he really needed that battle. He had a lot of emotions pent up within him, especially about how the Master Emerald is holding up, and how Shadow is holding up, but mostly…

"Where in the world did Sonic go?" Knuckles asked himself.

As if answering, a blur kicked up around the area and ended quickly, and what stood before Knuckles was the blue hedgehog… and an annoying bat-girl. Suddenly, he heard many guns click, and he looked around to notice the GUN soldiers were pointing their rifles towards… Rouge?

"Hold on!" Sonic exclaimed, "Don't shoot!"

"Sonic, what's going on?" Knuckles asked.

"Boys, there's a complete misunderstanding here," Rouge said, "Let me talk to the Commander."

There were many mutters from the soldiers, until one soldier held up his radio, "Sir, we have a plea from Agent Rouge."

"Plea!? More like an explanation!"

Knuckles chuckled; it's about time she got herself into a corner.

"Let me speak to her," The Commander said.

"Yes sir," the soldier said, as he rushed to the bat-girl and gave her the radio.

"Now listen to me, Commander," Rouge said.

"What?" he replied.

Knuckles just looked at Sonic, and the hedgehog winked at him. Not understanding the wink at all, he just simply nods and listens.

"I got to Shadow, and I was going to lead him towards Prison Island so you all could catch him, but your GUN idiots got in the way and I lost his trust!" Rouge said convincingly.

Knuckles looked curious, "Why would you do that-"

"Quiet Echidna!"

"Hey! Watch who you're talking to!"

"Hey, Knux!" Sonic said, putting his arm around his shoulder and turning him around, "Lets go for a little walk."

Knuckles looked curious again, and after a moment, he finally popped the question, "Alright Sonic, what's going on here?"

"Rouge was with Shadow, but he seems convinced that the humans are against him, and he ditched her," Sonic said grimly.

Knuckles put a mildly surprised look on his face, "Are you serious? So Shadow is in full alliance with those aliens?"

"Black Arms," Sonic clarified, "but I think so… he seemed pretty content from the look on his face…"

"Man!" Knuckles punched the air, "If we didn't listen to Black Doom we could've stopped whatever he was doing to Shadow!"

"Don't remind me," Sonic said, sighing and bowing his head.

Knuckles mentally slapped himself for mentioning that, "Hey, buck up! You're not supposed to act like this!"

"I know, but… I'm out of ideas, what are we going to do? We don't know enough about Shadow to even attempt to try anything."

"…Well you do have a point…" Knuckles scratched his head, much like Sonic, he relied on his instincts… and his temper. But then… "He always muttered about some girl though…"

"Yeah… what was her name… Maria?"

"Yeah! He always called…" At that very moment, a light bulb just exploded with light within Knuckles' head. Conveniently, Sonic's eyes widened at the same moment his did.

They swiftly turned to each other, blurting out the same exact word at the same exact time, "Amy!"

* * *

"I got it!"

"Huh?" Amy sounded, as she turned around to notice Tails rush into the room.

Amy was in GUN fortress, and she told the Commander that Sonic was okay, which he nodded too, and then she told him that Shadow wasn't evil, which he obviously ignored. Even someone as sweet as Amy, or so she thinks, is ready to swing the bat, or in this case, hammer, at the human's face, but she refrained from doing that.

"I got the Chaos Emerald!" Tails said, holding up the yellow emerald.

"Great!" Amy cheered, but after a moment, "…What for?"

Tails sighed slightly, "It's for my upgrade for the Tornado, so it can go to space."

"Why not just steal-"

"No!" Tails said, anticipating the question about Eggman's shuttles.

"Okay, I get it… so what are we going to do?"

"Well…"

Before he could start, The Commander walked in, "Your friends are returning."

Amy's attention immediately went to the Commander when she analyzed 'friends' as 'Sonic', "Sonic is coming back now?"

"Yes."

"Yay!" Amy exclaimed, which was well enough to make Tails stop trying to get her attention back.

Tails sighed again, "Did they get Shadow?"

The Commander shook his head, "No," he paused for a moment, then grimly, "In fact, he's with the Black Arms."

Tails' eyes perked, "You're kidding…"

"Not according to Agent Rouge."

Amy stared at the Commander curiously. She could note his voice almost sounded… relieved. Just what does he have against Shadow?

She was going to ask, until… "We're back!"

The voice of Charmy Bee was familiar to everyone, and when there's Charmy, there's Espio and Vector. The Chaotix stood in front of the doorway, with Vector in the middle with his 'I'm the cool leader' pose.

"Hey guys!" Amy said, "Is Sonic with you?"

"Nope, he's still out trying to get…"

"Actually, he's coming back right now," Tails corrected Vector.

"Oh, I see."

"So what did you find out?" the Commander asked.

"Well…"

"Hold on Vector, we're supposed to wait for Sonic and Knuckles!" Charmy interrupted Vector.

The crocodile looked at Charmy and nodded, "Right, thanks for reminding me. We'll unload the news when those two get back."

"Then they better hurry," The Commander said grimly.

* * *

"Hm…"

Ah, the Space Colony ARK. It's so refreshing to see it again after fifty years. Although, to a certain black hedgehog, it would only feel like an hour ago. Shadow looked around his abandoned home, recollecting his memories from looking at the scenes of the crime. He wasn't surprised; GUN had cleaned up the area from any trace of blood, debris, or any samples of the human body. However, Shadow could replay the whole incident perfectly within his mind, just as if it was yesterday.

"No time for reminiscing, I need to find Black Doom," Shadow said with resolve, skating off.

Shadow continued to skate, passing by aliens that were pummeling whatever GUN was trying to throw at them. GUN left such worthless guards here. Especially those useless GUN beetles that float around and do absolutely nothing.

"_But enough about those…"_ Shadow thought calmly, _"I have a revenge to commence."_

Shadow skated at high speeds, quickly passing by the aliens to get to his destination. He didn't exactly know where to go, but he could hear Black Doom calling to him… waiting for him…

* * *

Sonic rushed inside the GUN fortress, with Knuckles and Rouge right behind him. He wasn't able to go his fastest with them around, but Knuckles was getting tired of being dragged around. It was okay with Sonic, since Knuckles could at least keep up at high speeds, and with how fast he was going, the blue hedgehog was glad he could.

It didn't take long for Sonic to get to the operations room, where he automatically slammed the door open and shout, "I'm back!"

Everyone looked at Sonic, except for Amy, who decided to latch onto Sonic instead.

"You mean **we're** back," Knuckles said, shoving Sonic aside so he could get in.

Rouge more or less did the same, except it was a lighter shove. Sonic noticed that Rouge was also eyeing the Commander, for reasons unknown to him. Sonic just guessed that it was about Shadow.

"So…" Sonic said, looking down at the still attached Amy, "What's up with all the stares?"

"We're just glad you're okay, Sonic," Amy said, smiling.

Sonic did a nervous smile, a little thankful for the thought, but knew it was about something else.

"Info!" Charmy suddenly exclaimed.

"Oh, right!" Vector said, scratching his head.

As Vector began to talk, Sonic noticed that the Commander was slightly distracted, _"That's odd; he would want to hear this too… ah well."_

"Espio theory was correct, Black Arms definitely has something to do with the ARK," Vector paused, looking at everyone's curious reactions, "Remember that comet? That's the same comet from 50 years ago, which is also the same year when the ARK had the accident."

Sonic looks around, seeing shocked faces, minus Rouge and the Commander. He then looked at Tails, who had something to say.

"So does that mean Black Arms has something to do with the accident?" he asked.

"Possibly," Espio simply answered, "But we don't have all the answers."

Sonic thought for a moment, then, a light-bulb flared within his head, "Does that mean those aliens came from that comet?"

"Ding, ding, ding!" Charmy sounded, "You are correct!"

"_Shadow was created during that time too…"_ Sonic thought, "Why does all the answers seem to be on the ARK?" he paused then slammed his fist in his hand, "Here's the plan: Tails, you finish with upgrading the Tornado. Chaotix, you three help Tails with the small stuff. That way, we can get to the ARK."

"Good plan, except for one thing…" The Commander intervened.

Sonic looked at the Commander. He hated when people said that. It only meant there was trouble, "What?"

"It's Black Arms. They invaded the ARK and took down the defenses," Commander paused, "Shadow is there too."

Sonic look confused, "What? What could Black Doom possibly want…" then, it hit him, hard, "No…" Sonic looked down, shaking his head, "He wouldn't dare…"

* * *

"Ugh…"

Doctor "Eggman" Robotnik sat on his chair within the Egg Fleet, slightly wincing in pain. The fall he took was a harsh one, but it wasn't enough to kill him. Sometimes, being fat has it's advantages.

"Damn those hedgehogs…" Eggman muttered, rubbing his jaw, "I almost had him, but then Shadow saw resolve… where did it come from?"

Eggman thought back, trying to remember his domination before Shadow came along. Sonic couldn't penetrate his defense, and Knuckles was tiring himself. He was so sure that victory was within his grasp, but then…

"Chaos Spear…"

Eggman remembered that painful move. He remembered Sonic being attacked by it when he and Shadow were racing along the ARK. He hadn't used that move in so long, he wasn't prepared for it.

"This is going to be a problem… his abilities are returning the more he regains his memories."

Eggman stood up, still wincing in pain. He walked to a large computer and started to type, "Not only that, but his abilities are excelling beyond my imagination. He's even stronger than the first time I met him…"

Eggman thought back again, remembering his usage of Chaos Blast. He was glad he was looking from afar when he used it on Sonic on his own battleships.

"That explosion had to come from him… but when did he develop it?" Eggman began to grow frustrated and slammed his fist on the keyboard, "He's going beyond my expectations!"

Again, Eggman slammed his fist, "He's out of control, but he's my creation… my legacy! He belongs to me, and he should obey me!"

After a moment, Eggman calmed down. His pain returned to him and he grabbed his back, rubbing it. Then, he typed on his computer, and the monitor flared up and showed a scene.

"Let's see how my Jungle base is doing." He pressed a key, switching through cameras, "Hmm… no sign of hostiles… oh wait…" He looked closely at the screen, and saw a small alien… "Hah, so they finally found my base eh? Well, this time, they won't be so lucky with their giant brutes!"

Eggman grinned with delight. Ignoring the pain he had, he used both hands and typed on the keyboard. Soon, he stopped typing, and just raised his index finger on his right hand.

He chuckled evily, "Time to assmble… the Shadow Androids." He pressed 'enter'.

* * *

Sonic stood in the middle of Station Square, keeping patrol of the city. Beside him was Knuckles, who was helping him.

"Sonic, are you sure Shadow is going to do it?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic stopped jogging, thinking for a moment. He knew that Shadow was heroic at the heart, although he never liked to admit it. He knew he didn't have the best life, but he gave the people of Earth a chance to redeem for this past mistakes. However… ever since Black Doom came…

"I don't know," Sonic finally said.

Knuckles stood there, his face bewildered, "You don't know? Come on, you never say that!"

"Well," Sonic started, smiling at Knuckles, "I'm saying it now. Shadow is a complete mystery with his intentions."

"So…" Knuckles started, shaking his head, "Our only hope is Tails' Tornado, eh?"

Sonic nodded, "If we can get up to the ARK, then we can stop Black Arms and stop Shadow."

"The question is: is Tails and the Chaotix quick enough to do it?"

"Of course Tails is, he doesn't hang out with me for nothing."

Knuckles smirked and nodded, "Right."

"Now let's stop talking and continue with the…"

Sonic is interrupted with a large explosion towards the right. He got blinded by the sheer light and size of the explosion."

"That thing…" Sonic said, "Is huge!"

Soon, the explosion lifted, and Sonic got his vision back. He looked at Knuckles, who had narrowed eyes.

"Sonic…" Red Rad said, "That explosion… it came from Central City!"

"What? Where the president is?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, we better get moving!"

Before Knuckles could even finish, Sonic bolted off. Noticing his sudden instinct, Sonic turned around to see if Knuckles was following. Thankfully he was, meaning Sonic doesn't have to stop.

But eventually, he had to, because he got a fist-full of Black Arms. He bounced on the floor then skid on the ground. Stopping, Sonic looked up at his attacker.

"Shoot…" Sonic said, staring at the brutes of the Black Arms, "They're back…"

* * *

Shadow stepped into the control room of the ARK, where Black Doom floated, his eyes showed eager intent.

"Shadow…" Black Doom called, "How was your visit?"

"Degrading," Shadow said plainly, "what now? Explain this ritual."

"All in due time, black hedgehog. For now, we must prepare for it… do you have the Chaos Emeralds?"

Shadow smirked, and allowed the three Chaos Emeralds he had in his possession float about him, "Just three of them."

"More than enough," Black Doom said with anticipation in his voice, "Now, place them in this machine."

Shadow nodded, and began to walk with the Chaos Emeralds beside him. As he continued to walk, he began to get a slight headache…

"_I've been waiting for you, Doctor."_

_Doctor Eggman jumped out of his machine, simply awed by the sights of this machine._

_Shadow kept his usual smirk on his face, his heart filled with intent, "Now, I will show the glorious achievement of what the world's leading scientist, Professor Gerald has created."_

_The black hedgehog turned and looked at the screen; which had various loading windows. Soon, the machine slightly flashed, showing it was close to completion._

_With determination in his eyes, Shadow spoke again, "The ARK was the first space colony created by mankind. Not many people know that the ARK contained a top secret research facility where weapons of mass destruction were being created." Shadow paused, turning back to the doctor, "This is one of them…" his heart raced, and with that, his voice flared with anticipation, "A weapon capable of destroying an entire planet, code named…" Shadow pointed at the machine, to ensure the doctor of what he was talking about, "The Eclipse Cannon!"_

_Eggman was bewildered, his face showed much shock, "Destroying an entire planet…was this my grandfather's legacy?"_

"_But, it's been deactivated for some time now," Shadow said, pulling out a green chaos emerald, "In order to reactivate it," Shadow smirked and pitched the emerald into one of the sockets of the Eclipse Cannon, "large amounts of energy is necessary."_

_The Eclipse Cannon flared with energy, making a small energy wave. All this do was confirmed what Shadow was saying._

"_Oh… so that's why we needed the Chaos Emeralds."_

_Shadow grinned, seeing that the doctor finally got his plan, "Exactly! To reactivate the machine, we __**need**__ the seven Chaos Emeralds. Once you have that, then you have the ultimate power of destruction to use as you please. And then…" Shadow paused, his face returning to a smirk, "The world could be yours!"_

Shadow's headache went away, and he just grinned with anticipation, "The Eclipse Cannon…" He looked at it, standing on the platform. He then put a smirk on his face, grabbing a Chaos Emerald. Grunted, he did the same type of throw he did from his memories, and the green Chaos Emerald was locked into the machine.

"The ultimate power of destruction, to use as I please. And then…" Shadow looked at his fist, his smirk growing wider, "The world could be **mine**!"


	12. Armageddon

**Chapter 11: Armageddon**

"_What do you want me to do?"_

"_Just stay here."_

"_What? Why? You need my help too!"_

"_Exactly."_

_Amy put a bewildered look on her face, having no idea what Sonic meant, "Huh?"_

"_Look," Sonic said, "you're going to be a big help, but you won't if you're hurt out there, you know?"_

_Amy didn't like that. She can be a big help in the battlefield as well. She does do her… what was it…boxercise? Well, whatever she called it, she does it a lot, perhaps more than enough, and she has showed that she can decimate many with her hammer. Yet, Sonic was still worried about her safety? Usually, Amy would be giddy from this, but this was grand. Shadow the Hedgehog is the only person that rivaled Sonic in all areas, and her 'love' could use every ounce of help he could get._

_However, she couldn't go against his valor, "Okay Sonic, I'll stay here."_

_Sonic nodded, "Thanks Amy," she then saw Sonic turn to Knuckles, "Let's go Knuckles!"_

Amy Rose smashed her hammer into another alien, making it evaporate, _"Sorry Sonic, but I hate waiting, especially for you."_

The pink hedgehog was currently in the middle of the city, with the intent of getting rid of the aliens so Sonic and Knuckles would have a smoother ride in their patrolling. As her hammer landed on another alien, she began to think about Shadow. What Sonic predicted, was beyond frightening.

"_The Eclipse Cannon…"_

That thought scared her. Didn't Shadow and Eggman almost succeed in activating it? Right, Dr. Gerald's programming made it so that didn't happen, but it made something much more menacing activate. It was so big that even the fatman himself decided to join forces with Sonic to stop the threat.

"_And then I convinced Shadow…"_

In some odd twist of fate, she did. And Shadow became the factor that tipped the scales in favor of saving Earth. In ways, it could be said that Amy saved the world. Too bad no one knows of what she did.

But enough reminiscing, if Shadow unleashes the Eclipse Cannon, then Station Square, maybe even the Earth, is doomed. She had to do what she could to help Sonic, and she had to do it quick.

--

Disbelief. That is still the main emotion that caged Rouge. The batgirl was still in the GUN Fortress, with the remaining defenses. She was tired of putting her trust in Shadow, as that has proven to backfire. Sonic can do what he wants, but she was convinced that Shadow could not be changed. She, of all people, would know what the black hedgehog is capable of when he is set on something.

She was still pissed at herself for not acting sooner. If she could've got him to Prison Island sooner, then maybe… just maybe… she had a chance to 'save' Shadow. Sadly, this did not fall in her favor. So, what could she do now?

"_Destroy him, that's what I'll have to do…"_

There was no other option. The Eclipse Cannon is a powerful weapon, and unleashing something like that would do more than decimate a few buildings. Tails and the Chaotix will have to work quickly, because if they don't, then Station Square is in for a rude awakening…

--

"We still need the four other Chaos Emeralds, if the Eclipse Cannon is to be unleashed at full power."

"Yes, Shadow, we know."

Shadow folded his arms, smirking, "Then what is the plan, Black Doom?"

The black blur was still in the Control Room, looking at the leader of the Black Arms. There was something different about him, but Shadow couldn't pinpoint it… Oh, no, he wasn't thinking about Black Doom, but himself. He felt more… confident, valorous, and ambitious. All of these qualities felt good to have, and it was because he was able to find out his purpose…

His train of thought died out when Black Doom spoke, "There are two Chaos Emeralds still in that city we initially attacked."

"Station Square again, hm?" Shadow stated.

"Yes," Black Doom confirmed, "However, they're in two different places. One is heavily defended by the humans with their puny weapons, and the other is moving around at high velocity."

That last statement made Shadow grin, "So you want me to take care of the blue blunder." This was the moment he was expecting. He already took down Sonic once, but the hedgehog wasn't serious back then, and then Shadow himself held back in their next match. However, this one, he wasn't going to hold anything back, and he expected Sonic wasn't going to do the same.

"Exactly. We shall kill two birds with one stone," Black Doom said, floating to the Eclipse Cannon and pulling out the Green Chaos Emerald, "You will need this to teleport to the city."

Shadow took the emerald. While he didn't want to weaken the cannon, everything will be fine once he and the aliens come back with the two other emeralds, and then eventually the other two.

"Prepare yourself, Shadow. When you teleport, you will meet with my army and destroy the blue hedgehog."

Shadow grinned, his intent now having something to pinpoint, "Consider it done." He raised the Chaos Emerald in the air, "Chaos… Control!"

--

Sonic kicked the last brute in the head, while Knuckles followed up with a Heat Knuckles Attack to its gut. That was enough to knock it down to the ground and disintegrate.

"That's getting really old," Sonic said.

"You're telling me," Knuckles replied.

Sonic sighed, remembering their current intent, "We still have to check on the president. Hope he's okay."

Knuckles nodded, then ran ahead. Sonic stood there for a second, then began to run as well, taking the lead. It didn't take long for Sonic and Knuckles to get close to the President's building, and Sonic was pretty surprised it was still intact with barely any damage to it. He then saw the President standing at that large glass window, looking at them.

"_How long has he been standing there?"_ Sonic thought.

It's not like authoritive figures like him to just stand there and watch heated combat. In fact, many figureheads would have just turn around and head for the hills. Sonic then remembered back two years ago, when he and Tails 'interrupted' the meeting with the President and Dr. Eggman, who was threatening to blow up the country if the President didn't surrender. Sonic remembered, before he answered for the President by shouting _'No way!'_ he was able to see his eyes, and he definitely saw an intent. From that point, Sonic knew he wasn't going to admit defeat… at least, not that easily.

Sonic's train of thought ended when he saw the President nod to him. Sonic blinked once, then nodded back to him, "Glad he's all right." He sighed in relief, turning to Knuckles.

He saw Knuckles nod back to him, "Me too, but don't you think something is off?"

Sonic automatically knew what he meant. This area, it was clean… perhaps, too clean. The fact that Knuckles noticed this too made him believe this was ominous, "Let's look around."

"Right."

Sonic and Knuckles ran around the President's building, looking for anything that stood out. There was the water fountain… the garden… the back of the building, which consisted of nothing but more grass. Sonic then went back to the front, while Knuckles climbed to the roof. The blue blur checked the President's limo, seeing if there was anything of interest. Besides the car keys that the driver left in the ignition, he saw nothing.

Maybe his bad feeling was false this time, "Knuckles, what do you see up there?" But he wasn't going to think that just yet.

He saw Knuckles looking back at the city with eyes wide. This made his ominous feeling rise to it's peak, "What is it, Knuckles?"

"Sonic, get up here, now!" Knuckles shouted.

Sonic complied by running up to the building, then continued to run, stepping on the wall of the building and quickly placing his next step on the wall before he could slip off. He then got to the top easily, and stood beside Knuckles, looking at the city.

Sonic then saw his omen… "You gotta be kidding me…" What he saw was a large mass of aliens falling from the moonlit sky, and into the city. As expected, he saw a building crumble not long after they all landed.

Sonic then narrowed his eyes, "That's it… I had enough."

"You're not the only one," Knuckles said.

Sonic looked at his fighting buddy, and noticed his eyes were narrowed as well. The blue hedgehog was glad to see they were on the same page, but that gladness disappeared when he decided to end this, "Knuckles, let's go."

"Right!"

Sonic and Knuckles jumped off the roof, landed on the ground, then rushed off towards the city again.

--

"Remember Shadow…"

"I know," Shadow said, arms folded with a smug look on his face, "the emerald comes first, then I'll quickly get rid of the blue one, then meet your army at the GUN fortress."

Shadow was having a jolly good time watching the Black Arms wreck havoc on the city. Black Doom's third eye was right behind him, and Shadow only assumed he wanted to make sure he'll get the job done against Sonic. He only mentally shook his head from that thought. _Of course_ he's going to get the job done. If Sonic is going to defend those idiotic and selfish humans, then he deserves to be dead.

His train of thought ended when the Third Eye spoke, "Good… I shall be expecting your arrival very soon." With that, the eye floated away, which slightly surprised Shadow, but it was nothing to be concerned about. That just means he can completely let loose of his abilities without something annoying behind him.

"_Heh… that sounds a lot like…no, this isn't the time to be thinking about her…"_ However, it did make Shadow wonder, _"…But what is so special about Prison Island?"_

Shadow didn't know, nor did he really care. However, he did consider paying the place a visit just to satisfy his own curiosity. Of course, he had the current scenario to worry about, as he saw a Brute suddenly get sliced open and melt into the ground.

"Chaos Control!"

That high-pitched voice made it pretty obvious where it came from, but before Shadow was able to react to it, he saw that his entire army was cut to shreds and melted into the ground. This made Shadow blink confusedly, until he saw what was standing a distance in front of him: Sonic the Hedgehog, and his idiot sidekick Knuckles. The menacing hedgehog let off a smirk, seeing the glare that the blue blunder was letting off.

"Nice to see that you dropped by…" Shadow said, extending a hand, "Now lets make this easy by you giving me the--"

"Fat chance!" Sonic exclaimed, which Shadow expected, of course, "Enough is enough!"

"I see…" Shadow said, putting his hand at his side, "So you've finally came to your senses. Perhaps now you'll stop treating me as a kid lost in a park and instead as a true enemy," That statement of course made Sonic wince, "And you brought the musclehead too I see. Perhaps this'll become a fair fight now."

This made Knuckles take a step forward ready to throw the first punch, but Sonic put his arm in front of him, "Knuckles," Sonic called, "head back to GUN HQ. I'll take care of this."

There was a silent moment, but this actually made Shadow put a smug on his face, _"The blunder is smarter than I thought."_ Sonic completely read between the lines of his statement. If Knuckles stayed, Shadow's chance of winning, as high as it already was, would've risen even higher, as the echidna was actually liability instead of good help.

What surprised Shadow however, was the lack of any opposition from Knuckles, "All right… but you better leave some for me." This made Sonic smirk, and he nodded to him. After that, Knuckles around and ran off.

"Hm, perhaps he's not so dumb after all," Shadow said.

Sonic got into a fighting stance, his feet ready to move, "Enough small talk, Shadow. There's no way I'm letting you activate the Eclipse Cannon!"

Ah, so he even knows about that. No wonder he's so serious… but this actually made Shadow quite excited, seeing this new side of Sonic of which he has never seen… or perhaps he already has, "Done your homework I see… very well." Shadow got into his own stance, his skates roaring quietly with life.

"It's time for me to finish this!" Sonic shouted as he rushed forward. Shadow rushed forward himself—actually, he is stopped from the sudden sting in his head, hearing the repeated phrase _"Time for me to finish this!"_ He cringed, allowing himself to be wide open, which was capitalized on when he felt a large amount of force hit his chest, making him fly backwards and tumble onto the ground.

"_The hell was that?" _Shadow thought as he came to his senses, which made him quick enough to roll away from an incoming spin dash that would've been not very pleasant to get hit by. Shadow quickly got up, looking at Sonic… at the ARK? _"More images… at a time like this!"_ Shadow furiously tried to block out the incoming images, while swaying away from an incoming punch from Sonic, which failed when Sonic fainted an detoured his punch into Shadow's gut. While that punch hurt, that wasn't nearly as annoying as the images pouring into head.

These images weren't about Maria, or GUN, or blood laid about on the ARK. This was about Sonic, Tails, the Doctor, Rouge, and… Amy? There wasn't any words, or videos playing in his head, just simple images. What stuck out to him the most however, was the image of Sonic looking back at Shadow, as he walked forward.

"_You never cease to surprise me blue hedgehog. I thought that capsule you were in exploded in space."_

"_What can I say? I die hard… you actually saved me you know."_

"_It was the Chaos Emerald wasn't it… but there's no way you could've used Chaos Control, using an emerald that's fake… so there's more to you than just looking like me. What are you anyway?"_

"_What you see is what you get, just a guy who loves adventure… I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!"_

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Sonic paused, holding back his next punch as he sat on top of Shadow. He looked distracted for awhile, but it looks like he was back now. Sonic only confirmed his thoughts when he saw Shadow develop a red aura. Before he knew it, Sonic was already running away from the large explosion developed from Chaos Blast, narrowly avoiding it.

"Guess he's out of dream world," Sonic remarked as he turns back around to see Shadow. However, he ends up seeing a barrage of Chaos Spears flying towards him, "Whoa!" he jumps up to avoid being 'chopped hedgehog', but that left him with Shadow above him… and with a fist in his face. Sonic fell to the ground, but quickly caught himself and dived away to avoid the incoming homing attack from Shadow.

Shadow lands on the ground and stands up neatly, wiping the dust he accumulated off his chest, "A guy who loves adventure, huh?" Shadow narrowed his eyes to Sonic annoyingly, "Well your adventures are coming to an end!"

This makes Sonic blink confusedly, "Where did that come from?" He takes a minute to think back… oh wait, didn't he say that when he was trying too—whoops, he had to cut that thought off when Shadow threw a punch at him. Sonic quickly ducked away from it and does a sweep kick, knocking Shadow off his feet. Hastily, Sonic gets back on his feet while Shadow was falling, and then did a quick thrust kick to his gut. This however failed when Shadow disappeared from sight, and Sonic didn't have to think twice to know that he just used Chaos Control, "Crap…"

Crap was a good response, as Sonic finds himself getting knocked back from a force. He stumbles back, then stumbles to the right as another force came from the left, then he stumbles to the left as even another force came from the right. This repeats for another second until Sonic quickly glows a blue aura himself, "Chaos Control!" This allowed him to go into a time warp, and block the next hit coming from Shadow, fist caught by the blue one's hand.

"So you're done with the handicap?" Sonic grinned, making Shadow narrow his eyes, "Same here!" At the end of that statement, Sonic spun around and threw Shadow down the street. Shadow flipped back and landed on his feet. This only made Sonic grin as he got off into a running stance, "So Shadow, ready to go to the next level?" He said, gaining a blue aura.

Shadow looked at Sonic, letting off a smirk, "I see, very well." He let off a blue aura himself, his hover shoes beginning to roar once again.

"Chaos… Control!"

--

"Whoa!" Knuckles exclaimed as he felt a large rush of wind him. He stumbles forward, then regains himself and starts running forward again, "Was that just a sound wave?"

Things have gotten rough lately, and that was an understatement. What Knuckles hated the most however, was the fact that Sonic has been pushed to the point where he doesn't have the answers for everything in front of him. He has always been able to do that until Shadow came to the picture… now Sonic had to choose between following his heart or facing reality. No matter how you look at it, Shadow is now a threat, even if it is for the wrong reasons.

Speaking of threats, Knuckles was also rather annoyed at the fact that he himself was of no threat to Shadow at all… in fact he was far worse than a threat. He was a liability, a partner who was holding the hero back from going all out. Actually, this was what he hated the most: being useless.

"Bah… no need to be thinking about that right now…" He convinced himself as he heads through the door to GUN Fortress, now fully fortified for the invasion. The Commander was actually regulating everything from the frontlines, putting all soldiers and robots into position. Rouge was there as well, standing at the sidelines. While Knuckles hated the batgirl, he couldn't stand the Commander, so he approaches the bat instead, "How is everything?"

"It's fine," Rouge said plainly, "where's Sonic?"

"He actually met up with Shadow, they're dukeing it out right now."

This made Rouge blink, and look at Knuckles oddly, "And you came back here on your own?"

"Don't…" Knuckles growled, but then he catches himself, sighing, "…yeah, I came back on my own so Sonic could go all out against him." As much as he hated to admit it, it was the truth.

Knuckles expected some retort from Rouge and he was prepared to take it, but he just ends up getting a nod from her, as if she understood, "I know how that's like… quite sure I experienced it more than you actually."

Knuckles lets that sink in, and actually frowns a bit. He remembered when Rouge actually worked with Shadow, and he couldn't imagine having to partner up with him, especially at his current state. He moves to comment, but it ends up not being said from the Commander's booming voice.

"All offensive units move out! We must retrieve that Chaos Emerald!"

Knuckles widened his eyes and looked to Rouge, who had the same look on her face. As if having a psychic connection, they both approached the Commander with utmost haste.

"Commander, what are you doing?" Rouge asked bluntly.

"I'm not letting this chance go. Shadow has a Chaos Emerald and we're getting it back," Commander said with full authority.

"Are you out of your mind? Sonic is fighting Shadow right now, if you interrupt the fight…"

"All the more reason to get there, Shadow'll be too distracted to see us coming."

Knuckles looked at the Commander like a kid trying to drive a car. It looks good, it sounds good, but it was an entirely dumb plan once you know that this is Shadow you're dealing with, and he had the feeling that Rouge was having the same thoughts. He however, just saw Rouge retreat with her arms flailing in the air in frustration. Red Rad just sighed, seeing her frustration. Although, Commander's plan _could_ work if Shadow thought about that girl named Maria, which seemed to be his only glaring weakness. In fact, they even have the trigger to set it… hey, wait a minute…

"Rouge, where's Amy?"

This makes Rouge stop and look around, then back to Knuckles, "Good question."

"Oh no, don't tell me that she…"

--

Speaking of the pink one herself, Amy was simply dragging her mallet around, 'patrolling' the city for any more Black Arms. This however, did not seem to be the case. She remembered seeing a sound wave a moment ago however, and she did see a building near the location of the sound wave collapse as well… curiosity eventually wins over her, and she rushes to that location. Part of her was hoping that Sonic was there, and another part of her was hoping that he wasn't, mainly because if he was, he would yell at her for breaking the promise made only an hour ago. Well, she was already out here, so if nothing else, she knew she would be of big help.

Approaching the location of the sound wave, she noticed a blue ball crash through a building beside her. This made her jump in shock and duck under the window to stay hidden. She rises up slightly to see what was going on, and she ends up seeing Sonic sitting on Shadow with hands interlocked with each other, going into a strength contest. Right now, it looked as if it was a stalemate, and this caused Amy to call out a silent cheer for Sonic, despite the overwhelming instinct to call out his name. She gets rid of this by doing squats and shouting silently in her head.

Eventually, she notices Shadow grin, "Enough of this," and just like nothing, Shadow easily starts to push against Sonic, so much that he was able to get him off, and stand back up, "You may be the fastest thing alive, but you're still weak" and to confirm that, Shadow began to push Sonic's hands up, then downwards to make him drop to his knees. He almost got there until Sonic started to growl, fueling himself to match Shadow's strength. This, of course, made Shadow smirk, even chuckle a bit.

"You're open," And with that, Shadow kneed Sonic in the gut with an incredible amount of force, which knocks the wind out of the blue one, and he throws him through a table, snapping upon impact.

And this was when Amy's instinct spiked to an incredible degree, "SONIC!" And before she knew it, she was already climbing through the window to save her hero. Piko Hammer out, she rushed to Shadow and swung at his head. This, of course, did not work, as Shadow caught the swing by grabbing onto the grip.

"Hm, that might've worked if you were more stealthy about it," Shadow said, looking at Amy straight in the eye.

Amy just now noticed what she was doing, and told herself how completely idiotic she was to think that she of all people could stand up to Shadow by brute force alone. She however, knew that her words were much more powerful, "Shadow, think about what you're doing! You can't do this!"

Shadow keeps looking at Amy, grip still on her hammer. While she didn't exactly get a response, she's not unconscious right now, so… "You're hurting so many people and ruining so many lives! You weren't born to do this… is this what Maria would want!?"

There was a pause. While it was only for a few seconds, it felt like a lifetime. Shadow kept staring at Amy, his eyes piercing through hers. She hoped her words sunk into Shadow, because she had the gift to turn this raging bull into a calm person. She then saw Shadow sigh lightly, "Shadow…? Are you—ugh!"

"Yes," Shadow said, his hand wrapped tightly around Amy's neck, "This is exactly what Maria would want." He lifted Amy up by the neck, sucking the life out of her. It even got to the point where Amy no longer had the strength to hold her hammer.

Amy noticed her eyes began to darken, and her body begin to slow down from the lack of breath. She held on for dear life, grabbing Shadow's wrist weakly to do whatever she could to prolong this situation, _"Sonic… help me. I'm sorry that I didn't listen… save…"_

"Shadow!" Amy heard Sonic's voice almost perfectly, and this was confirmed when Shadow turned his head to look at him. Amy was able to let off a smile, before she was thrown away like trash, her back impacting against the door and crushing through it. She wasn't even conscious to feel the pain of tumbling on the ground.

--

Of all the people who could've showed up, it HAD to be Amy! Sonic rung this through his head as he looked at Shadow's smirk. He had a lot of mixed feelings right now. First, he was feeling plenty of anger towards Shadow for his neglect to hold back. Second, he was feeling both anger and surprise towards Amy for her sudden appearance. Lastly, he was feeling confusion for Amy's failed attempt to reason with Shadow, as she truly was the trump card against the black hedgehog. All he know is that Shadow's resolve has peaked, and it looked like nothing was going to stop it.

It was then that Sonic heard Shadow chuckle, "Chaos…" Sonic went wide-eyed as Shadow developed a red aura, "Blast!"

A Chaos Blast within a building meant that the place was restrictive. A Chaos Blast within a building meant that the building itself would collapse. A Chaos Blast within a building with Sonic inside could mean his death if he doesn't get out right now. Sonic quickly ran away from the explosion and dived out of the building, cuddling himself up as the bricks go flying. Plenty of bricks fall on Sonic, but he has a pretty hard head, so he took it in stride. When the blast ended, Sonic jumped out of the pile of bricks and looked straight to Shadow… who just had his arms crossed. Sonic looked at him with narrowed eyes, "All right Shadow, you've gone way too far this time."

"I don't remember being rules in war," Shadow said, "besides, I've already won."

This made Sonic blink, "What are you talking…" He then noticed the pile of bricks a distance away from Shadow. Sonic, with haste, moved to the pile and moved them away. Below that pile was a knocked out Amy, in a rather bad condition. Sonic quickly picked her up without much thought of the situation he's in, then he just thought about it, and knew he was in a bad situation. Amy needed help, and she needed it fast. However, if he ran too fast in the limp condition Amy is in, he may make it worse. If he left her there, she may die from the lack of attention, or even worse, from all the combat. However, if he neglects Shadow in favor of Amy, Shadow would most definitely kill him and perhaps even Amy too. Worst of all, he'd have his Chaos Emerald.

No matter how you look at it… Shadow won.

Sonic looked at Shadow, eyes narrowed, "This isn't over yet, Shadow."

This made Shadow smirk almost shining with confidence, "Don't be a fool… you obviously won't abandon Amy, and you obviously know I won't let you get away…" Sonic sighs, reading the situation completely, "However… if you cooperate I may let the both of you live."

Sonic already knew what Shadow wanted, "There's no way I'm letting you have the Chaos Emerald!"

"So you would let your idiotic girlfriend take the fall? That's quite… heroic of you, Sonic."

Sonic cringed, knowing that he was in a bind… he had absolutely no idea what to do. It's either let one person he cares about die to save billions, or don't and have the world one step closer to destruction… what can he do… what can he do!?

--

"_Shadow…"_ Shadow blinked, eyeing upward, _"You must head to the human's last defense now."_

You have got to be kidding me... is what Shadow would be thinking right now. He was finally able to cripple Sonic and now the dog leash is being tugged. No matter, Shadow would just get this over with, "Make your choice before I make it for you… Hero of Earth" Sonic backed up from Shadow a bit, which caused the black hedgehog to frown in annoyance, "You're beginning to try my patience, hedgehog. Choose now before I--!"

It was then that there was a booming voice that surrounded the entire city. It was so loud, that Sonic, Shadow, and even everyone at GUN were able to hear it.

--

"_We are the Black Arms. We are here to take rule of this planet. Any attempts to resist are futile and will result in death…"_

Both Sonic and Shadow looked up to the sky, both confused as to what was going on.

"_You humans… are so pathetic… as of today, this planet is mine!"_

"He's already claiming domination…" Tails said within his workshop. He looks to the Chaotix who completely froze in what they were doing. Even Charmy refused to say a word.

"Hah… you think we'll give up that easily! You're crazy!" Knuckles exclaimed in GUN Fortress, "Bring whatever you got, we'll take it down with ease!"

"_Now we will begin to exterminate all the world's leaders who resist…"_

"All the World's leaders…" Sonic muttered, "Wait… that means…"

"The President!" Rouge exclaimed back in GUN Fortress, "Where's the president!?"

"H-he's still in the White House. There was nothing there so… oh crap…" Knuckles just noticed his mistake.

"_Annihilation for this planet is near. It is time to embrace the dawn of your demise and despair!"_

Sonic quickly looked around for any Black Arms soldiers, then swiftly looked to Shadow, "Shadow, tell me. Where are the other soldiers!?"

"As if I would know all of Black Doom's plans," Shadow replied, folding his arms.

It was then that both Sonic and Shadow's Chaos Emeralds began to blow ferociously. The both of them pulled out their emerald and looked at it. They knew it had to resonate for one reason… energy is being amplified. When the energy is amplified, the Chaos Emeralds tend to call out to each other… which means…

"That idiot…" Shadow said.

"He's firing the Cannon!" Sonic confirmed Shadow's thoughts, "Shadow you gotta help me!"

"As if I'd--"

"Damnit Shadow, don't give me your kill all humans bullshit! Black Doom just freaken double-crossed you and you're still going to have undying loyalty? I think not!"

Well, when you put it that way… "Fine, what do you want?"

"Take Amy back to GUN!"

He almost instinctively said no, but then he remembered that's exactly where he was headed anyway, "Fine, give her to me."

Sonic nodded, then he saw a green light coming from the sky, "Hurry!" He quickly gave Amy to Shadow without much regard to her injuries. Being injured is better than being dust. Shadow nodded to Sonic then began to skate off.

Sonic quickly turned tail and dashed off to the White House, going as fast as possible, immediately breaking the sound barrier and dashing through buildings. Glass broke whenever he passed it, and vehicles literally flew through the air from the wind that Sonic was constantly cutting through. In the matter of three seconds, Sonic made it to the White House. But by this time, the green beam from the Eclipse Cannon was close to impacting on the white house, "This is going to be picture perfect…"

Shadow turned around to see the beam hit home on the surface, causing a large explosion with it. Shadow quickly sped up as the explosion grew larger and larger, intent on consuming Shadow with it. He began to feel the heat of the explosion coming from behind, and Shadow took a second to sigh. This high speed chase began to annoy him… "Chaos Control!" And just like that, Shadow warped away with Amy with him, as the explosion consumed the city…

--

"…The hell just happened?" Commander said, now back in the Operations Room, "Do not answer that… was anyone in the vicinity of the blast range besides the President?"

"Well…" An operative replied, "There was Sonic and Shadow… and our offensive line set to ambush Shadow…"

There was no use asking if the attack team lived through that, "What about those two? Is the Chaos Emeralds still giving off energy?"

"…Yes sir. Sonic's emerald is…"

As if to finish that statement, a warp opens up in the middle of the operations room, and in a flash of light, Sonic and the president appeared in front of everyone, falling to the ground. Sonic breathed hard, although in a rhythm, "Whew… I haven't ran that fast in ages!"

"Sonic! Mr. President!" Rouge called out, jumping to the middle of the room to pull them up, "Are you okay?"

"I'll live…" Sonic said, still trying to regain his breath.

"Ugh… I'll be okay… thanks to Sonic," The President remarked, "I would be dust if it weren't for him."

"Ah shucks Mr. President… all in the day's work."

To the Commander, all of this was bollocks. He didn't give a damn about the safety of the president right now, nor did he give a damn about Sonic being tired. All he wanted right now was… "Locate Shadow… where did he go?"

"Well sir… according to this…" The operative looks taken aback, "he's right on top of us!"

The Commander narrowed his eyes, "All units, battle-stations! Locate the black hedgehog!"

"Sir, we have another problem! The Black Arms have breached the frontlines! They're already inside the fortress!"

"Damn you…"

Sonic looked to Rouge, finally catching his breath, "Rouge, do you trust me?"

Rouge nodded, "Of course."

Sonic nodded back, "Fine, then come with me, we're going to find Shadow," he knew Shadow had some heart in him left. If he didn't, he would've let Amy die. In fact, he wouldn't have helped him at all and just killed him right on the spot. Shadow is still a good guy… and Sonic wasn't going to give up on him just yet.

--

Shadow warps in the infirmary of the GUN Fortress, with plenty of wounded and nurses taking care of them. All the nurses literally screamed upon sight of Shadow, but he just simply ignored it, finding a free bed to put Amy on, and laid her down. At that point, Shadow simply warped away, and reappeared on the roof of GUN Fortress, at the very top of it, looking at the sky. Right now, he is very confused…

"Why did I save her? Why did I help Sonic!?" He drops to his knees, looking defeated within his own mind. All of that resolve, ambition, and determination was completely swept away when he was pitted against saving Amy or letting her be killed, "Maria… isn't this what you wanted!? Didn't you want me to kill the ones who destroyed our lives!? Damnit… give me a sign—ugh…"

And there was his sign… another headache…

"_This is Rouge… I've got a small problem." Shadow was walking in the jungle, finished with his mission from before. He looks at his walkie-talkie, wondering what the problem was, "I can't believe I'm trapped inside this locked safe with a Chaos Emerald!"_

"_What…?" Shadow thought, actually rather amused from her failure. Serves her right for thinking that she would be able to waltz in and make demands without paying for it._

"_I guess I won't be able to call myself a treasure hunter anymore…"_

_Shadow looked back at the walkie-talkie, hearing the rather remorseful voice coming from Rouge. Definitely not something he was expecting, but what's done is done. He was quite sure that the Chaos Emeralds would be able to survive an explosion like this, as it was just a regular explosion and nothing more._

_It was then that Shadow saw an image within his eyes… "Maria?" he thought, which is exactly what he saw. He stood there, staring at her. Eventually, he looked away from her to shake her off, and started to walk again, only for Maria to once again invade his line of sight._

"…_Why are you doing this?" Shadow thought, looking away again, only for the same thing to occur once again, "What are you trying to say? Don't tell me… you want me to save her…"_

"Do it for me…"

_Shadow blinked… then he shook it off, "Ah shoot… troublemaker!" he quickly turned around and bolted off into the jungle._

Another flash came into Shadow's thoughts _as he quickly ran through the open door of the prison, breaking through the gate the relative ease. He looked at his watch as it counted down from 15 seconds. Wasting no time, he pushed up to top speed and broke the sound barrier, narrowly dodging pipelines and walls. Eventually, he saw a sealed gate, which had to be the room Rouge was stuck in. He quickly waved his hand to set off Chaos Spear, which blew open the door. Hastily entering the room, he located Rouge, who was slouched against the wall holding three Chaos Emeralds, looking defeated… until Shadow walked in._

"_Shadow…?"_

_Three seconds left and she wanted a reunion? Screw that. Shadow quickly went into top speed with his arm extended outward to pick up Rouge, "CHAOS CONTROL!"_

Shadow quickly looked back up to the sky, falling out of his trance, "What was…?" he rubbed his forehead, analyzing his trip down to memory lane, "Did I just have a flashback… in a flashback?" That was on the bottom of his list as far as anomalies go. What surprised him was the fact that out of all the people, Maria wanted him to save Rouge the Bat, an agent of GUN, which is the military branch that destroyed Maria's life.

"That doesn't make any sense at all…" Shadow was now completely confused. First, Maria tells him to kill all humans, but now she wants him to save people? What is going on here?

"Wait… locked safe… a prison… Chaos Emeralds… an island blowing up… it's all coming together." First of all, there was Shadow's first meeting with Amy, and there was some sort of plan going under way between him, the Doctor, and Rouge. Then there was his mission… which he still can't quite point out exactly, but he suspects it has to do with something about blowing up the island. Rouge apparently had the task of gaining the emeralds but screwed up and got herself sealed in. That was when Maria requested Shadow to go save her. Somewhere along those lines, Shadow met up with Sonic and fought him, which ended up in a draw, then Shadow went in and saved Rouge.

"At least… I think that's what happened." Shadow was pretty sure of it too. It all came together like jigsaw puzzle… but there was one thing that still got to him, and it was the very thing that he neglected, "All of this… is intertwined with Prison Island…"

Just like a writer's block wearing off, Shadow found new inspiration. He warped off the roof and at the entrance of GUN Fortress, walking in. He was met with the Black Arms, who were apparently waiting for him. Shadow just simply waved his hand, sending a barrage of Chaos Spears at them, making them evaporate into the air. He now knows that destroying the human race was not his calling. Black Doom used him and manipulated his memories for his own bidding, and he was never set on using the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the humans. Maria does not want revenge, otherwise he would've let Rouge die a long time ago. What prodded Shadow the most however, was that he ignored the very person who knew everything about him…

"Rouge the Bat…" Shadow said, with intent in his eyes, "Where are you?"


End file.
